


Faith in his timing

by Sif



Series: American Horror Story Asylum series [1]
Category: American Horror Story: Asylum
Genre: Abuse, Aliens, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Horror, Attempted Murder, Attempted Seduction, Corporal Punishment, Dark Comedy, Demonic Possession, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Multi, Murder, Nazis, Original Character(s), Rating: M, Sassy, Seduction, Sexual Content, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-04-25 04:13:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4946272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sif/pseuds/Sif
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rio Taylor, a young scientist, finds herself in the Briarcliff Asylum, run by Timothy Howard in 1964. She built a time machine and tinkered with it, the result was a sudden transportation back to the '60's. Rio has a hard time adjusting to her new situation and all the hazards and dangers that come with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1964

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: adult content, violence, abuse, manipulation and other sensitive subjects will be in the story.

“Don’t tell me how to live, sign!” 

The Monsignor looked up at hearing the words in the hallway nearby. He got up, walked to the door of his office and opened it. A few feet away, a red-haired girl with a short haircut, was waving her fist at a sign. The sign told the inmates to move in a slow and docile pace, as to not cause a ruckus in the hallways. The Monsignor was more than surprised. He had never seen this girl before, she was obviously not an inmate. On top of that she seemed highly out of place. Her hair for starters, almost none of the women had short hair here. And her clothing….she was wearing a pair of pants, instead of a skirt. And on her shirt was a little yellow man with a pair of large glasses, dressed in a blue overall. The girl felt that someone was staring at her and she turned around, letting out a relieved sigh. 

“Oh good, sir, can you help me? This goddamn door won’t open! And could you tell me where I am?”

The Monsignor frowned, he did not like it that this strange and forward girl used the name of the lord in vain. “Young lady, this is a mental institution, Briarcliff to be exact. I would like for you to explain how you came to be here. In decent language.” The last part was spoken rather firmly but instead of meekly agreeing like all the sisters and most of the patients, the girl crossed her arms in front of her chest and scoffed. 

”I’ll talk however I want. Anyway, I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you. One moment I was tinkering with a machine in my lab, the next I roll out of this closet and the door shuts behind me. I want to go home.” To emphasize her words, she bangs on the door 3 times with her fist. “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!” She growled frustrated and the again the man gave her an utterly confused look. 

“I beg your pardon?” The girl looked back at him and sighed. “You don’t have TV here? Nevermind, it’s a reference. So Briarcliff huh? And where is Briarcliff exactly?” 

The Monsignor was still trying to comprehend everything she just told him. Tinkering in a lab…with a machine? It sounded like something out of the movies and like she predicted, he indeed did not believe her. “Are you one of Shelly’s friends? I will not tolerate that girl’s malarkey anymore!” 

The girl shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I knew you wouldn’t believe me. Let me see if I have pictures on my phone.” Her hand went into the pocket of her pants and she fished out her mobile phone. When she saw the man eye the object with a frown, she got confused herself. “You know what a phone is right? Here, take a look.” The small object was shown to the clergy man and the girl swiped over the screen to unlock it. Her background picture would be considered graphic, a bare-chested man holding a crucifix. When the Monsignor gave her a stern look, she let out a shy chuckle. “Yeah eh…well…you know. Oh, here it is.” She mumbled as she opened her picture file. “See, this is the machine. It wasn’t working well and I wanted to fix it. Should have waited for my partner but hey, I’m neurotic like that.” 

“You are…mentally ill?” The Monsignor asked her and she got a spooked look on her face. 

“No man, nothing like that, just eh..anxious, that’s all. Don’t get any ideas, alright?” There was no way she was staying here. 

“And that contraption, what is it exactly? I have to say this is all very strange.” The man replied and the girl nodded. 

“I understand, didn’t mean to just bust in here like that. It’s a time machine, at least that’s what it’s supposed to be but…” Then her jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide. “Oh no…no, no, no…what year is this?” Either this girl was the worlds best actress, or the Monsignor needed to lie down for a few moments. 

“It’s 1964, young lady. But you don’t expect me to believe that..” But before the man could finish his sentence, the girl banged on the door with her fist once more. 

“Fuck! I’m such an idiot!” She cried out, causing the man to jump back in shock. “And where are we? I know it’s Briarcliff but I mean..” She was visibly upset now, her hands trembling and her eyes filled with tears. The Monsignor felt sorry for her, he was even going to excuse her cursing again. 

“Massachusetts.” She facepalmed. “Great. The spirit of America.” 

“Pardon me?” He asked and she let out a frustrated growl. “From Family Guy, you know..oh never mind.” But the Monsignor was getting impatient. He needed to know what was going on here. 

“Look here, young lady, we are going to introduce ourselves to one another, then we will visit doctor Arden. He is a very good doctor and..” She wanted to interrupt him but he held up his hand. “..and scientist. He may be able to clear up a few things here. I am prone not to believe your words, but your strange technology is something that needs to be researched. In the meantime I suggest you stay by my side and take the rules of this institution to heart.” Not very eager to follow all these rules, the girl leaned against the wall with a sigh. But she realized she didn’t have much of a choice here. 

“You could just give me the key to this door, you know?” She tried to persuade him, but he shook his head. “No. I want to know what we are dealing with first. Now, I am Monsignor Timothy Howard, the one in charge at this institution.” He said as he extended his hand. The girl shook it reluctantly. “So you’re a guy from the church? In charge here? Shouldn’t there be a doctor in charge or something?” The Monsignor glared at her and squeezed her hand.

“Your name, child.” He ordered and the girl pulled her hand back. 

“It’s Rio. Rio Taylor.” Timothy nodded. “Nice to meet you, Rio. What a peculiar name, if I may say so.” Rio raised her brow at this level of politeness, she was used to much gruffer language. 

“Thanks, my mom was a Duran Duran fan.” She explained with a chuckle but again facepalmed when she saw his confused face. “Never mind, let’s just find your doctor pal.” As the Monsignor led Rio down the hallway, in the direction of the common room, he glanced at her. 

“The sign…earlier on you told it not to order you around…was it speaking to you?” He asked in a calm manner, still trying to test if she was mentally ill or not. If he found her to be unstable, he would keep her here, magic machine or no magic machine. 

“I was telling it not to tell me how to live.” Rio explained, trying to find a better way to say what she meant. “See, there was an instruction on it. And I was so upset I didn’t want to follow the instruction. It’s..sort of a common expression where I am from.” Again the man glanced her way. “Over here we do as we are told.” Those words made her grin wide. “Oh yeah? Not really my style.” She retorted and gave him a saucy wink that caused him to blush a little. 

Rio chuckled as they walked through the large hallways but her jaw dropped as she saw the situation in the common room. Inmates were crying, hitting their heads against the walls and obviously in pain but all of it was being ignored. “What the..” The girl mumbled and wanted to go inside to help where she could. Timothy grabbed her arm firmly and pulled her back into the hallway. 

“I believe we were finding doctor Arden.” He told her in a stern tone, making the girl frown and glare. 

“Those people need help! Look at them! And let go of me or be sorry.” She told him, with a nod to her arm. Not being used to strong and assertive women, the Monsignor indeed let go of her and took a step back to regroup. Rio huffed and adjusted her shirt a bit. This made Timothy notice the little yellow fellow again. 

“That deformed man on your eh…shirt…who is he?” Rio looked at her shirt and then back to him, with a grin on her face. 

“That’s Dave, the minion. He’s not deformed. That’s just how he looks.” She explained with a shrug, figuring it wouldn’t make much sense to explain he worked for Gru and made bombs for him. She didn’t want to end up in a straightjacket like the rest. “I don’t like what I see here, Timothy.” The girl told him with a frown on her face, pointing at the inmates. The look on his face got dark, for more than one reason. 

“Young lady, you shall address me by my proper title, which is Monsignor. Furthermore I assure you that these patients are getting the best of care. They are in the hands of God. He shall provide.” Rio gave him a bored stare and rolled her eyes. 

“They are in –your- care, Monsignor.” She told him sternly, pronouncing the last word in a mocking tone. “And no god is going to save them from it.” The girl added in a mumble as she went on her way. The Monsignor followed after her, not wanting her to wander off without him. There was no answer from his side, since his mind drifted off. How was he going to make sure this girl wouldn’t make too many rapid changes during her stay? He wanted Briarcliff to move into the future, as he and sister Jude discussed many times before, but not the future this girl was from. He led her past the office of sister Jude, who was just coming out for a small break from her duties. 

“Monsignor…who is this?” She asked him with a worried tone in her voice. Instantly, the strict nun smelled trouble. Also, she did not like to see the Monsignor in female company other than herself. It was her sin, among the other ones she kept from everyone. 

But Rio saw. She saw the love and need for this man clear on the nun’s face. And to know that it would never be, due to both their statuses, Rio wept inside. The girl extended her hand and the nun reluctantly shook it. 

“Hey, name’s Rio. Rio Taylor. I can tell you how I got here, but it’s kind of a strange story.” Rio warned her, also glancing at father Howard. 

“Sister Jude. Charmed, I’m sure.” Jude told her and then raised a brow. “I hear strange stories here all the time, miss Taylor. But I am sure we will take good care of you here. Do make yourself at home.” Rio got a scared look on her face. 

“No! I eh..I’m not a patient! I-I…please tell her?” She asked the Monsignor who nodded and put a hand on her shoulder. 

“Calm, child. Sister Jude, Rio is not a patient of Briarcliff, she eh…well…rolled out of a closet. She claims to be from the future. There she build a time machine and eh…” Sister Jude started to chuckle. 

“How kind of the Monsignor to indulge in your little game. But please. You cannot expect me to believe that.” With a huff, Rio got out her phone and swiped over the screen to unlock the object.

Likewise the Monsignor, sister Jude gave the girl a scared look at first, when she investigated the item, but a stern and disapproving look second when she saw the half-naked man holding a crucifix. “Yeah uh..well..oh look, the picture!” Rio mumbled as she made the picture pop up on screen. Sister Jude and the Monsignor exchanged looks but Rio didn’t notice. She held up her phone so Jude could see the picture of her and the time machine and it made the jaw of the nun drop. 

“What…what is this sorcery…” The woman whispered and look at Timothy for some sort of explanation. But the man merely shrugged. 

“I know, sister Jude. Normally I’d give you my blessing to assume this girl was confused and needed our medical help..” Rio gave him an annoyed look and huffed. “But seeing as she has this strange device and a picture of an even stranger device, I am prone to at least hear her out.” He continued while he ignored her silent protest. Sister Jude nodded, still in shock. 

“I guess you are right, but what can we do to investigate this?” The question made the Monsignor a tad uncomfortable. 

“My idea was to take her to doctor Arden, to see what he could make of all this.” He answered and sister Jude’s look became disapproving once more. 

“I see. I see that my services are not needed here. Monsignor, miss Taylor, I wish you good luck on your quest. Greet your people from the future from me, miss Taylor.” She told the girl in a bitter tone, but instead of being annoyed, Rio frowned with sympathy on her face.

“It was nice to meet you, thank you for your time.” She told the nun before following Monsignor Howard into another hallway. Both Jude and the Monsignor gave her a curious look at her politeness and the girl shrugged as she looked at the man. “What? She obviously felt overlooked, I just wanted to be nice.” She explained. 

“Curious..” He told her softly. When he saw her confused face, he explained. “You have no problem with speaking your mind when things do not please you, when it comes to me. But with sister Jude you feel a certain sense of sympathy. She was not particularly nice to you.” Rio shrugged. 

“Maybe, but I could tell that had nothing to do with me. I think that had something to do with you. And as far as you go, I don’t like to be told what to do. And yeah, I speak my mind. Sister Jude wasn’t that nice, but she also didn’t comment on what I had to say. If you can cut that out, I’ll be nice to you too. Deal?” Rio gave him a smug grin and the Monsignor just glared at her, as he stopped at one of the doors and knocked on it. 

“I suspect you did not learn many manners throughout your life, young lady.” He chastised her but just when Rio wanted to object to this, an older gentleman opened the door the Monsignor just knocked on. 

“Yes? Monsignor, how nice to see you. And who might this be?” The gentleman asked and Rio extended her hand. 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Rio Taylor. You’re doctor Arden? The Monsignor said you might be able to help me. But maybe it’s best if he explains why I’m here. Or how.” Rio rambled, getting a bit anxious since she felt like she was in the building for too long already. She wanted to go home and quick. 

“Yes, I’m doctor Arthur Arden, nice to make your acquaintance.” 

The Monsignor watched them meet each other and then nodded as doctor Arden glanced at him. 

“Yes eh…we are both aware that the story sounds more than strange, but miss Taylor found herself rolling out of the broom closet across from my office. She was eh..teleported there through her…time machine.” It was too hard for the Monsignor to look doctor Arden straight in the eyes when he gave this explanation. The man looked at the young girl, back to the Monsignor and then back to the girl again with a chuckle. 

“I eh…is this one of Shelly’s pranks?” He asked a bit unsure at first and Rio sighed.

“I need to meet this girl, she sounds like loads of fun, but here. Look at this.” As expected, the doctor was quite surprised when he saw her phone, but even more so when he saw the picture of the machine. 

“Miss Taylor, I am highly intrigued, do you mind if I research your eh….what is it exactly?” The doctor asked her and Rio got a worried look on her face. 

“As long as you don’t take it apart. It’s a phone. Like the ones you have here, only we have them without a cord, so we can take them everywhere.” Arthur seemed disappointed that he wasn’t allowed to take the phone apart, but he couldn’t assure the girl he would be able to put it back together the way it was before, so he didn’t argue with her. 

“So, you believe what miss Taylor has to say?” The Monsignor reluctantly asked dr. Arden as he was still inspecting the phone. Again the half naked man background was seen and Rio avoided the disapproving glance from the older man. Why did she let her friend talk her into that background? 

“I let you…why do I let you?” The girl mumbled to herself, but the men paid no attention to her at this point. 

“Yes, I do, but I need to do research before I can make a definite statement. While that research is being done, I suggest that miss Taylor remains inside of the walls of the asylum and that the other inmates are kept from the truth. At least what we think is the truth. We cannot have her run amok by telling them she is from the future, their feeble minds couldn’t take it. On the outside, we will not be able to protect her if she tells anyone. So keep her here and give her a believable backstory so the others won’t get suspicious or unruly.” Rio got more mad by the second, even more so when the Monsignor told doctor Arden that he made good points. 

“Hey! What about what I want, is that important by any chance? I don’t want to stay in this awful place! If you can’t help me open up the door to that broom-closet, you can at least put me in a hotel so I can figure it out myself! I promise I wont say a word to anyone!” She protested but the Monsignor shook his head. 

“Miss Taylor, we have to consider everyone’s safety, not just your own. Doctor Arden raises some good points so I am sorry to say this…” Rio could have sworn that part of him turned a little smug when he said this. “But from now on, you are a patient at Briarcliff..” The smirk was unmistakable and insufferable and Rio felt a cold sting of fear in her heart.


	2. Rules

“I don’t fucking think so!” Rio shouted and stepped back, not wanting either of the men to grab her. The Monsignor frowned and reached out for her. 

“You shall keep your voice down, child, we do not want you to disturb the other inmates.” Rio gasped as she felt tears well up in her eyes. 

“I am not an inmate!” But the Monsignor grabbed her arm nonetheless and squeezed it rather harshly. 

“From this moment on, you are. I will have none of your fuss, missy!” The Monsignor pushed her against a wall and blocked her body with his own so she couldn’t go anywhere. 

“Get the orderlies, doctor Arden.” He told the other man, who nodded and went on his way to get help. 

“You better cooperate, miss Taylor.” The man stated, looking back as he walked away. “The Monsignor does not tolerate disobedience very well.” His own remark made the doctor chuckle, but it made Rio furious. 

She let out a high pitched growl as she tried to squirm away from the clergy man. But he was determined to keep her in place, so he pushed his body even more firmly against hers, making her swallow hard at the contact. He was not unattractive after all and she could feel her body react to his. To her surprise, she saw a response from him as well. His pupils were dilated and he panted softly. 

“Let me go!” She demanded but he was not convinced. “You are going to learn some manners!” He spat and doctor Arden returned with a few orderlies. 

One of them, Stan, firmly grabbed Rio once the Monsignor pulled back. The holy man adjusted his clothing and cleared his throat as he glared at the girl. Still heavily protesting, Rio tried to pull away, but one of the others gave her a shot of medicine. Instantly, she became more docile, her vision blurry and voice rather shaky. 

“Wha..what’s that..” Rio asked in a small voice as she slid down the wall, onto the ground. 

“Just a little something to keep you in line, miss Taylor.” The Monsignor answered and then turned to Stan. 

“Stan, miss Taylor will be staying with us for a while. Can you please prepare a room for her and make sure she is properly cleaned and clothed?” Rio could hear the sadistic pleasure in his voice but was too confused to still protest. The medicine they gave her was so strong that she was practically hallucinating. 

“N-No..” The girl whispered weakly, but the orderlies paid no attention to her protests. She was stripped of her clothing and put into a strange shower. Unlike normal ones, the showerheads were placed on metal bars, sideways from the body. This meant that Rio was sprayed with water from all sides, cold water on top of that. Once she was showered, she was covered in delousing powder. After that, she received a similar outfit than the other inmates. A blue, paperlike dress. Rio came out of the bathroom, sniffling, her gaze directed at the floor. She was ashamed to be seen in this silly dress and ashamed that the male orderlies saw her naked body. 

“Miss Taylor. Will you follow me, please?” A voice asked her and when Rio looked up, she saw sister Jude waiting for her outside the bathroom. Was that a hint of sentiment on her face? She appeared less strict than earlier. 

“Okay.” Rio answered softly and sniffled a bit more. Sister Jude frowned and approached the girl. 

“The Monsignor can be awfully strict at times. It’s best to follow orders, so you do not get into trouble.” She said and then nodded, to indicate their discussion was over and she was ready to go.

“He’s a monster.” Rio replied in a raspy voice. Sister Jude glanced at her, but did not answer. She brought Rio to a room with a small bed. 

“This will be yours. During the day, however, we expect you to join the others in the common room. I believe you saw it earlier today. No strange stories to the others. We are meeting with the Monsignor before you are introduced to the other inmates. He wrote down a story for you and all of us will stick to that story, on how you got here.” Rio was furious. 

“Who the hell does he think he is? He can’t play god like this!” But the girl squeezed her eyes shut, her throat was too soar to keep protesting. Also, sister Jude’s face remained stoic, as if she didn’t want to hear anything negative about her precious holy man. 

Timothy Howard was pacing around in his office. “Insolent girl…the nerve…the audacity!” He mumbled and hissed under his breath. As he was muttering, he also envisioned her on his desk, naked and willing, begging him to take her. The holy man shook his head at these obscene thoughts and silently prayed for strength. A knock on the door woke him up from his prayer. “Yes?” 

Jude entered, Rio close behind her with an annoyed look on her face. 

“Ah, sister Jude, miss Taylor, please sit down.” Timothy told them and sat behind his desk, facing them. He could see that Rio was not wearing any underwear underneath the dress and he was glad he was sitting down, or his arousal would have been much more apparent. 

“I have written down a story, that we can tell the other inmates so..” The Monsignor started, but Rio interrupted him immediately. 

“I am not an inmate! Stop saying “other inmates” like I am one of them!” She said sternly, her voice shrill. Timothy Howard slammed his hand on the desk and the sound echoed through the room. Sister Jude swallowed hard and averted her gaze. 

“Young lady, this is the last time you interrupted me in this institution. When I speak, you will listen. If you cannot comprehend this, we might have to give you a steam treatment.”

Now sister Jude looked up and opened her mouth to protest, but she closed it as soon as the Monsignor glared at her. Rio scoffed. 

“I don’t give a damn.” She mumbled, making him slam his hand down even harder. 

“And you will keep your vile mouth shut!” Now Rio jumped up. 

“Make me, Howard! I don’t give a damn what you say, you don’t impress me. You think you can play god just because you hide behind a book of fairy tales!” She shouted at him and sister Jude, yanked her back in her seat by her arm. 

“Miss Taylor, you will keep your voice down, the Monsignor has all of our best interests in mind. He cares for us all, but you must understand he has to make difficult decisions sometimes. You have also seem to misunderstood him. The story is not to make a fool out of you, he is merely making sure the inmates of Briarcliff will not bother you as much. If we come up with a story before hand, they won’t ask question after question, you see? That will give all of us more time to work on your return to eh…well, your own time.” The way sister Jude explained all of this made sense, even though a small part of Rio still felt that she was being treated unfairly. But she felt a bit silly making such a fuss when sister Jude stayed so calm, so she decided not to object anymore. At least not for the moment. If this sped up her way back home, it was best to just go with it. Then all of this would be over soon. So she gave Jude a weak nod, to indicate she understood and the Monsignor smiled at them. 

“Sister Jude, I admire you. You are a rara avis.” He told the nun and she tilted her head. “What does that mean, father?” Before he could answer, Rio interjected. 

“Weird fish.” She said plainly. 

“Rare bird.” He corrected Rio sternly and the girl shrugged. 

“Same thing.” The Monsignor sighed and rubbed his temples, getting frustrated with their new visitor. Rio noticed and couldn’t help but to grin. This was it, she could get on his nerves. It would be funny to see him sweat. Timothy and Jude were discussing the story that he came up with, to tell the other inmates about Rio, but all Rio could think of was seeing the Monsignor sweat. Not with frustration, but with lust. His strong hands keeping her hips down as he was thrusting at full force…in, out, in out…until she couldn’t take it anymore…

”What do you think, miss Taylor?” His voice suddenly asked and completely caught up in the moment, Rio forgot the situation she was in. 

“More..” She whispered. 

“I beg your pardon?” Timothy asked her in a strict tone and the girl woke up from her daydream, seeing Jude’s jaw drop. 

“I eh..mean…wait, what? Sorry, I was somewhere else.” She admitted and averted the stern looks she got. The Monsignor started over with the story. While he was talking, Jude imagined undressing herself in front of him, showing off the red lingerie dress she was secretly wearing underneath the long black frock. His hands gently caressing her arms, breasts, thighs…it wasn’t until Jude was asked a question that she woke up. 

“What? I…eh..” Rio snickered, she knew where Jude’s mind went. The Monsignor shook his head, suspecting what was on the mind of these two women. The tension was clear in the office and it got more primal by the second. 

“Perhaps, lunch should come first and then we’ll discuss this further.” He suggested as he glanced at them both. 

“Yeah, that’d be great, I’m famished.” Rio stated and turned red when she realized how that must have sounded. Again the Monsignor glanced at her. Jude saw it and cleared her throat, to draw the attention back to her. The change in the eyes of the holy man made her blood run cold. If Timothy watched his precious little time traveler, there was a look in his eyes of need, want and anger. But when he turned to her, his look turned reserved, soft and polite. 

“I will arrange lunch to be served.” Jude said softly and stood up, giving Rio a look of pure hatred, mixed with defeat. Rio knew and averted her gaze. Timothy Howard watched the exchange but wasn’t as delicate in his people skills and of course lacked female intuition. Sister Jude received a nod and a hand gesture of the Monsignor and left the room. Rio rose a brow at this, thinking it was pretty rude of him to dismiss her without even a simple thank you. So the girl stood up, walked to the door and saw if Jude was gone already. When she saw the nun in the hallway, she spoke up. 

“Thank you, sister Jude, for getting lunch ready.” Jude looked over her shoulder, confused with the praise but then just frowned at the girl. “Be quiet, this is not a market.” She reprimanded the girl and kept walking. Rio bowed her head and went back in to the office. The Monsignor was softly praying, while holding his rosary. But when Rio came back, he looked up at her. 

“Are you ready to listen to the story I came up with, or is there more lusting you need to do?” He asked her rather snidely, making her blush. But then she glared at him. Who was he to make her feel ashamed over something perfectly normal? She didn’t have to take that. She was a woman from an advanced time, where feminism was normal and scumbags like him would be grabbed by the balls. 

“Father, please, just take me! I need your holy rod inside of me!” Rio exclaimed, laying herself down on the desk sideways, holding her hand against her forehead. 

“Behave yourself at once!” The Monsignor spat as the girl came back up, holding her stomach from laughter. “You need to get yourself laid, Timmy.” Rio told him with a wink. “You’re too tightly wound. One of these days…you’ll snap.”

“Monsignor.” Timothy corrected her in an annoyed tone. “And you will sit down and listen or..” Rio grinned at him. 

“Or you’ll spank me?” She turned around, showing him her behind and glanced seductively over her shoulder. 

“Sit down!” He yelled at her and Rio laughed again, but dropped herself in a chair nearby anyway. 

“Alright, shoot, padre.” The word made awakened an entirely different lust in him. The lust for power, honour…he wanted to become pope…and her choice of words had reminded him of Rome. Rio could see he was in deep thoughts and decided to dive into her own pool of madness. Did she really display herself on his desk a few seconds ago? 

“As I eh..was saying..” Timothy started. “The story I came up with for you, is that you ran away from home after your sister died of a disease. Her loss caused you to lose your mind and you attacked several people along the way, until you were caught and brought here.” Rio’s gaze had turned stoic, she swallowed hard and averted her eyes without speaking. “Is this...hard for you?” Timothy inquired, when he saw Rio’s lack of response. The girl shook her head, her gaze still on the desk instead of on him. 

“No, it’s fine. Real clever.” Her voice sounded hoarse, as if it was breaking, but she kept every thought and feeling bottled up. 

“No insult. It’s a miracle.” He said with a smirk and now Rio glared at him. 

“Eat a dick.” 

The Monsignor gasped and wanted to reprimand the girl. But a knock on the door distracted him. 

A young, blonde nun came into the room, nervous beyond belief. She glanced at Rio, blinking rapidly, before turning to the Monsignor. “Father, I-I…eh…forgot to knock…” She said softly and wanted to walk back to the door. But Rio stood up and gently took hold of her arm. 

“Hey, don’t be silly, you can knock next time. It’s not like we don’t know you’re here now.” She said jokingly with a wink. The nun smiled kindly at her, but still glanced at the Monsignor for approval. The holy man sighed and gave Rio an annoyed look. 

“As our new guest was saying, sister Mary Eunice, there is no need for you to come back in. What can I do for you?” He asked the young woman. 

“Thank you, I eh…sister Jude sent me to tell you both that lunch is served. Welcome to our institution, I am sister Mary Eunice.” Rio smiled and nodded at her. 

“Thank you, sister. I’m Rio Taylor.” Sister Mary Eunice shook her hand and excused herself, leaving Rio with the Monsignor once again. 

“Do you think you can behave during lunch or do we need to restrain you?” The man asked her in a snarky manner and she grinned at him. 

“Would you like to?” Now images of the girl restrained in his bed plagued the holy man and he had to avert his eyes to get rid of them. Rio grinned and got up from her seat. 

“Alright, let’s do this. Bring me to the nuthouse, padre.” 

Once more, Timothy shook his head in disapproval of her ways and words, but chose not to reprimand her at this time. He could always decide to later. 

“I assume sister Jude has already prepared them for the fact you are coming. For as much as she was able to…” Rio gave him a bored look as they both got up and walked out of the office. “But I will give you short introduction myself as well.” The girl nodded absent-mindedly, thinking that it was a pattern with this man. He wanted the attention directed at him, he wanted to be praised for all his achievements, even if someone else deserved that praise. Why wouldn’t sister Jude be able to tell them she was coming and why? No, he wanted to be noticed, he wanted his deeds to be noticed. People like this scared her a little. She was a scientist, so of course she wanted recognition when she achieved something, but she’d never take credit for someone else’s work. People like that usually had very few limits. As she was pondering his motives and patterns, the Monsignor was thinking of hers as well. If he wanted her to obey and respect him, he’d have to think of other ways to approach her. Obviously shaming her for her feelings did not work as good as it worked on other ladies in this institution. The sisters were easy, he could easily shame them by using their faith. Patients could be a tad more difficult, Shelly for starters. She always found little ways to defend herself. But after enough reprimanding, the shame kicked in anyway. This girl didn’t seem to be troubled by it. If this was the future for women, the Monsignor did not want to live to see it.

Sister Jude was waiting in front of two heavy doors, doctor Arden by her side. By the looks of it, they were having an unpleasant conversation. Rio could hear the last bit of it, since they now almost reached Sister Jude. 

“I've dealt with bigger monsters than you, Doctor. Let me give you fair warning: I'll always win against the patriarchal male.” She told the doctor in a stern voice. But the man remained unimpressed. 

“Bully for you.” He replied and opened the doors behind her, revealing the large room that laid behind them. Long tables with rows and rows of inmates sitting there, with orderlies and nuns all over the place, trying to keep the order. Some of the inmates were screaming at each other, a few others were crying or laughing really loud. One of the inmates was standing on top of the table and refused to come down. Another one was flashing a few nuns by lifting up his paperlike blue dress. An orderly came up behind him and hit him over the head with his baton. Rio gasped and her jaw remained dropped as she witnessed all this injustice, this cruel treatment of poor, defenseless creatures that so desperately needed help. 

“You monsters…fucking…monsters…” She hissed as she looked at Jude and Timothy. The both of them gave her a disapproving look.

“Sit down and keep your voice down, don’t think I won’t cane you just because you aren’t a real inmate. God needs to reach all his creatures, even a little scientist like you.” Jude told her sternly, her tone and the look in her eyes gave Rio chills. This woman hid behind her religion to put pain in people’s hearts and on their bodies. But then again, that’s how Rio felt about most clergy men and women. Not wanting to be caned, she sat down, next to a strange-looking woman. Her head was shaped like a cone and her ears and nose were overly large. The woman held a fake baby and pretended to feed it soup, as she gave Rio a saddened stare. 

“Is that your baby? What a beauty.” Rio said kindly, putting a gentle hand on her arm. This made the woman smile wide and nod. 

“Pepper good girl, Pepper’s baby good girl!” Rio smiled back and nodded too. 

“Yes, very good girls, you both look like good girls.” Sister Mary Eunice sat on Rio’s other side and chuckled. 

“Not such a good girl, she drowned her sister’s baby and ripped off its ears.” Rio frowned at these words and looked back at Pepper. Again the sad look had fallen over her. 

“No, I don’t believe that. Pepper wouldn’t do that, she’s a good girl.” She told the nun and Pepper gave her a look of disbelief, bringing tears to her eyes.

“Pepper good girl!” She repeated as the tears started to flow and she gave Rio a tight hug, crying on her shoulder. Rio was close to crying herself and in her heart, she knew that this woman was innocent. Another woman was brought in, shouting at the orderlies that brought her in. 

“Stop it! Let me go! Jude blackmailed my lover! I don’t belong here!” But none of the orderlies listened to her and neither Jude or the other nuns seemed fazed by her words. 

“Sit down, miss Lana Banana. I want to say grace before we start to eat.” She simply said, sounding rather smug. After also being hit by one of the orderlies, the woman kept calm and sat there crying silently. Without caring about her pain or anyone else’s for that matter, Jude said grace and told them all to start eating. This whole thing caused Rio’s appetite to have left her body, so she just observed the others. She noticed that some of the inmates refused to sit down and just wandered around their chairs, grabbing some food from the table every now and then. Rio wondered why they didn’t sit down, so she whispered the question to sister Mary Eunice. The nun started to blink rapidly again, showing that the question had made her nervous. 

“I eh…sister Jude…” Rio knew enough and scoffed. “She caned them, didn’t she? What a spiteful bitch.” 

At that moment, sister Jude stood up and glanced in Rio’s direction, convincing the girl that the nun heard what she remarked. 

“I have an announcement.” It took a little while, but soon the inmates were silent and listened to her. “Starting today we have a new young lady in our midst. This young lady lost her sister and hurt a few people, because God hasn’t helped her dealing with her loss yet.” Again the Monsignor noticed that a solemn look came over the girl as this was said. He got more curious with the minute. 

“But we have decided that in our goodness, we will help her find the light and the lord, so she can move past this. I trust you will all welcome her, miss Rio Taylor, please stand up and introduce yourself.” Rio’s head shot up with a spooked look on her face. What? She was supposed to say something? They didn’t agree to this, what was she supposed to say? Sister Mary Eunice nudged her, getting a nervous twitch in her eye again, so Rio stood up and looked around the room. 

“She’s hot, I’ll show her around, sister!” One of the men called out. Rio frowned and put her hands in her side. 

“Then step up! Whoever spoke. Come on, lets meet. You can “show me around”.” Rio said mockingly. “I know 4 different types of martial arts and I swear to god I will rip your throat out if you touch me.” She added in a menacing tone, as she kept glancing around the room. Then she sat back down with a smug grin. “I think that’s all I wanna say at this point, sister. The coward has retracted his offer. Maybe the Monsignor can show me around instead.” The way she said this implied she meant the same as the man that spoke up earlier and the Monsignor blushed heavily, making a few of the female inmates cackle with glee. 

“Enough!” The holy man stated as he slammed his little black bible on the table. “I want to see you in my office, immediately!” Rio smirked and got up, swaying her hips from side to side.

“Let me have it, father.” She said huskily, causing laughter throughout the hall. If only she had known in how much trouble she got herself.


	3. Punishment

“How dare you speak in such a vulgar tone! To a man of the cloth no less!” 

Rio rolled her eyes and leaned against one of the walls, being more focused on the items on the bookshelf than what Monsignor Howard was saying. 

“Pay attention to me, girl!” 

Rio swayed her head to the side so she could glance at him but the mocking look she gave him and the small smirk playing around her lips betrayed how little he was impressing her. 

“Don’t call me that.” She told him, a bored tone of voice with only a hint of annoyance. 

“What?” 

“Girl. Don’t call me girl, I am woman, hear me roar.” Rio said smugly. 

Sister Jude knocked on the door and entered the office, glaring at Rio with hate in her eyes. 

“Have you gone completely mad? What has gotten into you to display such vulgarities?”

Rio chuckled and sat down in a nearby chair, curling one of her legs under her. 

“I didn’t hear either of you when that guy said he’d show me around. I wonder why. Cause he’s a guy and I’m not? I’m not much into sexism. Both of you didn’t stand up for me, so I stood up for myself and gave you a taste of what it feels like. Imagine how I feel. I hope you understood the lesson.” 

Jude and Timothy exchanged looks and Jude gave him a small nod, indicating that she agreed to something. Rio saw it and felt her lower abdomen twitch with worry. 

“Frank! The steam treatment for miss Taylor please.” Jude called out. The orderly came in and looked at Rio. 

“Follow me, miss Taylor.” 

But Rio stood up and stood behind the chair. 

“Eh…no. I am not following you, not to be punished.”

The Monsignor tilted his head. “Do you honestly think you stand a chance?” He vaguely remembered she said something about martial arts but he had no idea what it meant. He prayed it didn’t have anything to do with strength or fighting. 

Rio had slightly exaggerated the martial arts threat. She knew how to fight, but she wasn’t overly skilled. If she was, she could have send the Monsignor flying when he attacked her earlier that day, to keep her in place. But his gorgeous look and the fact that she didn’t want to harm anyone weaker than her might have played a part there too. 

“Come at me, see what happens.” Rio just answered and spread out her arms. 

“Don’t just stand there, do something!” Jude chastised Frank and he stepped forward, trying to grab a hold of Rio. Rio quickly grabbed one of his arms and twisted it, pushing him against the wall. “I said no!” She said through gritted teeth. 

Sister Jude didn’t hesitate for a second but rushed outside and came back in with a syringe. Without blinking, she inserted the needle into Rio’s neck and filled her veins with the fluid. It took mere seconds for the woman’s vision to get blurry and let go of Frank.

She sank to the floor with a groan before the world went completely dark. When she woke up, her senses were on overload. First of all, she was restricted. Her neck and head were the only parts she was able to move. Secondly, it was way too hot for her. This was when she realized that she was sitting in a bathtub that was covered with a large piece of cloth, tied to the sides of the tub. Rio figured she was getting the steam treatment they had threatened her with. 

Rio let out a frustrated groan when she noticed how tightly the cloth was tied over the tub. Panic rose inside of her when she thought of how soon she would faint if they left her here. Small, confined places gave her anxiety attacks and this definitely made her feel locked up. She breathed heavily and wiggled her body, but to no avail. 

“I’d save my strength if I were you.” 

Monsignor Howard was looking at her from the right corner, sitting on a chair. 

“Let me out!” Rio demanded but the man smirked at her. 

“Or what? You are out of power, girl. If you apologize…” 

“Do not call me girl!” Rio shouted at him, her anxiety now kicking in full time. How long had he been here? Did he watch them put her in the tub? Did he see her naked? 

“I told you not to interrupt me anymore! Do you want me to keep you here till you shrivel up completely?!” He shouted at her and Rio almost lost her cool. Her breathing picked up and she felt an immense pressure on her chest, her heart beating rapidly as a million thoughts were running through her mind. She was going to die here, they weren’t going to send her back. They would torture her first, then make her body disappear. 

As the young woman was having a panic attack, the Monsignor did nothing but watch. He liked seeing the fear in her eyes while she had no place to hide from him. No witty comeback this time, just fear and respect. Strangely, he felt something swell between his legs. 

Rio remembered all the training she had to control her panic attacks. Breath, in through your nose and out through your mouth, while you find your happy place. Hard as it was in this dump, she pictured herself on an island, using the heat from the steam as a confirmation. Islands were usually warm and humid, so it only helped her picturing it faster. Now that she was getting calmer, she also started to get angrier. How dare he scare her like this? Just because he had no power of her? What a douche. This guy needed a lesson, badly. 

“Mmm, father, you will keep me here? What will do with me? Something sinful?” She asked him in a husky voice, licking her lips sensually after that. The shocked reaction on his face made her crack up. She wiggled underneath the cloth, to make him believe she was touching herself. It would either get him so turned on that he’d want to see it, or he’d get so mad that he would try to stop her. Either way he would tear the cloth away so she could get some fresh air. 

Monsignor Howard stared angrily at her, unsure on how to act. Now the girl was moaning with her eyes closed, murmuring how good it was. He wanted to tear away the fabric and…he wasn’t sure what he wanted. The holy part of him wanted to force her to stop, but the male part…wanted something for his male part. Then it dawned on him that the girl was merely trying to get him to free her from her overheated prison so he smirked. 

The smirk both worried Rio and turned her on to no extent. She was close to begging him to ravish her, but with the last sliver of self control, she kept stoic. The man leaned down and put his mouth near her ear, softly biting the lobe there. Then he licked the sweaty skin of her neck, making her quiver and moan. 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, naughty girl…” He whispered and then stood back up. “For that, you will remain here longer. I was here to let you out, but it seems our adjustment-time is extended.” 

Rio whimpered in protest but the man paid no attention to it. He stood back up and straightened his blouse, giving her a small bow after that. He left the room without another word and told Frank to let Rio out in an hour. 

“An hour more? Isn’t that a bit much, sir? I mean…I think…” 

“You are not paid to think, do as you are told!” 

The holy man strutted to his office and refused eye contact with anybody that came his way. He growled under his breath and slammed the door closed behind him. Noticing that was panting, he glared into the fire, only to see Rio’s red locks in the flames. 

The knock on the door by sister Jude was lost to the Monsignor so he did not answer it. How could this be? Why did she invade his mind like this? He was convinced that if he tasted her, all his desires would be sated and that would be the end of it. But he was wrong, dear god, was he wrong. All it did was make it that much worse. The salt of her sweat lingered on his tongue and tickled all his other senses as well, arousing him greatly. Again there was a knock on the door and this time, Timothy did acknowledge it. 

“Yes.” 

Sister Jude came in, looked on her guard by this short response. She had been spying near the bathing area and had seen something upset the holy man greatly. The woman needed to know what transpired between the two. Or she wouldn’t sleep anymore. 

“I eh..came to check on you, Monsignor.” 

He smiled at her. “Sister Jude, just what the doctor ordered. Will you dine with me tonight?” 

Jude smiled shyly and agreed to his proposal. Timothy didn’t see her glee and desire for him, he nodded absently and figured this was a perfect way to get his head back into the game and forget about the red-haired girl and her silly magic box. 

“I will eh..go to prepare dinner then, Monsignor, I am glad to see you are doing alright. We must not let sin overcome us, we need to be strong so we can save the souls of this institution.” 

Monsignor Howard nodded and smiled. “I can always count on you.” He concluded their conversation and saw the sister out. 

Later that day, when Rio was released from her humid prison and the Monsignor attended dinner with sister Jude, peace returned to Briarcliff. Rio took a shower to wash off all the sweat and wandered around for a bit, to get to know the halls of the institution. She thought of home and how she missed it, wondering if she would ever find her way back to her own time. Did her partner find out already? Was he trying to help her? Or would he end up here too? Before she knew it, tears started to fall from her eyes and onto her blue dress. She wiped them off and hoped nobody saw her. 

When a white handkerchief appeared in front of her face, she knew this wasn’t the case. She accepted the handkerchief and looked up, looking into the face of a handsome man, smiling at her. 

“You look like you could use this. May I ask what’s the matter?” 

Rio dabbed away the tears and returned the piece of cloth to him, looking a bit shy. 

“I eh..I want to go home.” 

And before she knew it, she was crying again. The man led her to an office and invited her to sit down, kneeling next to her to dry her face of the new tears. 

“So Briarcliff is hard on you, hmm? I am a psychiatrist, so you are free to express your pain to me. Forgive me, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Oliver Thredson.” 

Meanwhile, the Monsignor tasted the meal that sister Jude had prepared and moaned in appreciation for the good taste. 

“Most women of the cloth feel they have to deny all sensory life when they take their vows. Your cooking reveals an almost decadent plate.” 

“Decadent, is that a subtle reprimand, father?” Sister Jude asked on her guard as she rejected his offer to fill her glass with wine. 

“Oh, you know me better than that. I always say what I mean. I’d appreciate the same from you.”

“As usual, you've seen right through me, Father.When you put me in charge here, I thought your faith in me was based on our mutually shared vision of madness as a spiritual crisis, an absence of God.”

The Monsignor gave her a caring, but aloof smile.  
“That remains true.”

This gave sister Jude the courage to ask what she wanted to ask the holy man for a little while now. “I want to know where you found Dr. Arden. He is not a man of God.”

The smile on the Monsignor’s face disappeared. “The Church approved him.  
He was sent here by people better equipped to judge his godliness than you.”

Sister Jude scoffed “Say what you will, your rare bird has a nose for rodents. And for strumpets, for that matter.” 

“You mustn't be so fearful. It was God, after all, who created both science and Heaven. God put the idea in a doctor's head to create the antibiotic that cured tuberculosis.  
These are amazing times, if you just look at it in another light.” Timothy tried to sooth her, ignoring the last part of her remark on purpose. He knew his behaviour towards Rio was inappropriate but he did not need this woman pointing that out. 

“There is no other light. We're literally almost on the moon. Our dear departed John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, was elected President. This is a time when anything can happen, if someone wants it enough.”

“But what on earth do we want, if not to save souls?”

“Here's what I want. I want this institution to become a place of such promise and renown that we are asked to be Cardinal of New York.”

"We?" Sister Jude asked surprised, shocked that the Monsignor even considered taking her with him on this holy journey. 

“Wherever I go, you go. You're my right hand.  
You'll become Mother Superior, overseeing thousands of nuns who will address you as "Reverend Mother." And then, with God and you on my side I see no reason why I couldn't ascend to the office of first Anglo-American Pope. You'd enjoy Rome. Wouldn't you, Sister?” He asked her in a somewhat husky voice. 

Sister Jude felt the blood rush to her womanhood, thinking of showing the man the red lingerie she wore under the cloth as always, straddling his lip as he put his hands on her.”

“ I need you to be a team player. The doctor needs full oversight of his domain. You look after yours.” The Monsignor concluded, sounding short and distant once more. 

“For the last time, I am not crazy!” Rio told Oliver in a raised voice.

He kept calm and smiled at her. “I did not say you were, Rio. I think you are just confused. What do you think, is time travel really possible?” 

“I know how it sounds, okay? I know, but…” Rio shook her head, it was no use. Not that the man was to blame, she wouldn’t believe this either. Especially not in a nuthouse full of criminals. 

“Can we just talk about something else? I just want to feel better.” 

Oliver nodded and patted the seat next to him. “Of course, come and sit.” 

Rio sat down and couldn’t get over how cute this guy was. “So. Olly.” She said with a playful grin. “Are you married?” Hitting on a married or taken man was not her style. 

He chuckled and blushed a bit at the question and the nickname. “No, nor do I have a girlfriend, I’m afraid.” 

In a wave of courage, Rio moved over to him and straddled his lap. The Monsignor left her way too agitated and she could use a distraction. “Good, kiss me.” She whispered and crashed her mouth onto his.


	4. Doctors

Oliver Thredson pulled away from the kiss and looked at Rio in shock. 

“Miss Taylor! This is highly inappropriate, I am a doctor, I can’t have relationships with my patients.” 

Rio groaned in frustration. All these men with their rules and ethics. Men of her own time would have her upside down and naked on a table already. Hm, maybe she should show them some more respect, since they were thinking with their heads instead of their dicks. She got up and straightened her clothing.

“Sorry, I just…you’re hot, okay? And I need to get some, that’s the short version.” 

Dr. Thredson gave her the glance over. 

“What’s the long story?” 

“None of your business, that’s what.” Rio mumbled, not wanting to get into this now. After telling the nice doctor she was from the future, she couldn’t tell him that she wanted to sleep with a holy man. 

“I need to report this to sister Jude, miss Taylor.” 

Rio looked at him in fear and worry. “No, she’ll cane me, please don’t tell her? I’ll do anything, just don’t…she and the Monsignor gave me a steam treatment…I…had a panic attack and he just stood there…” Explaining all of this caused her to have another panic attack. 

Since panic attacks weren’t exactly common in 1964, doctor Thredson was lost on how to help her. He helped her to the couch and opened the door of his office. 

“Sister Jude, some assistance please!” He called out into the hallway, hoping she would hear it. Or someone else that would either help or alarm her. 

Rio’s panic attack got worse when she realized Jude would come into the office and she gasped for air repeatedly as she tried to talk. She wasn’t able to, black spots were appearing in front of her eyes as her heart pounded in her chest, her palms wet with sweat. “No..no…Jude..no..” 

Sister Jude heard the call for help and dropped the dishes she was doing to rush over. She saw Rio gasping for air and close to fainting and sat next to her to pray. 

The girl growled in a high pitched voice and stood up, pacing around the room now, trying to calm down. 

“Dear lord, she is possessed..” Jude whispered and Oliver scoffed. 

“Of course not, she is just out of breath!” 

Anger now took over Rio’s panic, making it disappear within seconds. 

“You fucking idiots, I was having a panic attack!” She yelled at them and wiped off the tears that had poured from her eyes, also wiping her sweaty palms on her dress. She took a deep breath and noticed that the anger had driven away the panic. So in a way, they did help her. 

“A panic attack, please miss Taylor, the lengths you will go through to get attention are shameless. What are you doing here to begin with?” 

Oliver and Rio exchanged a look and she silently begged him with her eyes not to say anything about their kiss. 

“Miss Taylor was rather upset, I invited her into my office for a talk.”

Sister Jude looked from one to the other with a suspicious look in her eyes. 

“And this so called panic attack? Did that happen out of the blue?” 

Fuck, Rio thought. Please, don’t say anything, Olly, please. 

Dr. Thredson cleared his throat and looked slightly embarrassed. “No, miss Taylor got more upset when I questioned the story of how she came to be here. I didn’t mean to upset her or be rude, I just..”

Rio saw what he was trying to do and smiled at him. 

“Hey, no worries, Olly. Thanks, man.” And she gave him a playful punch on his shoulder. He eyed her curiously and smiled a bit nervous, unsure what this gesture meant. 

“It’s not strange that you do not believe her story. A girl sent from the future through a time machine, ridiculous.” Jude said with a condescending chuckle. 

Rio was stunned. Jude and Timothy said that they believed her. Was it a lie? Was it just so that she would give away her phone to dr. Arden and agree to stay in the asylum? She felt another attack set in but managed to stay calm for the moment. 

“But…you said….dr. Arden has my…” 

“Yes, yes, I know what we said, I know dr. Arden has your little box of light, but like I said before: the Monsignor was kind enough to play along with your lies, I am not. We talked it over once you were settled in your room and this cannot possibly be real. During your time here, you will realize that as well and we can work on your healing, through accepting god as your lord and saviour. Mental illness is after all the fashionable explanation for sin.”

Both Oliver and Rio seemed shocked at this statement, but Jude left the room before they were able to question her further. 

“Go to your room, miss Taylor. Remember if you look in the face of evil, evil's going to look right back at you.” Jude called out to her from the hallway. 

“I…I am not from here! Dr. Arden, he took my phone. He said he wanted to investigate it. I have a mobile phone. One like yours but cordless. It’s like a small computer. I showed them all the picture of my time machine. It’s on there, if you go with me to see him then I can show you.” 

Rio realized she was babbling, but it was important to her that at least one person would believe her in this crazy place. Especially if he was a doctor and not one of the crazy nuns or clergy men. 

“I can’t exactly make dr. Arden do anything, I am here to speak to that serial killer and that is it. But I can surely accompany you when you go to see him about it, if that makes you feel better?” 

“Yes, that’d be great. And thanks, for not telling Jude about eh…well, it won’t happen again, sorry.” 

He chuckled. “You are welcome. Now, get some sleep and come see me in the morning, after breakfast. Think you can go a night without getting into trouble?” 

“I’ll try.” Rio replied with a grin. “Night, Olly.” 

But no matter how hard she tried, Rio wasn’t able to sleep. Suddenly she heard ruckus outside, orderlies were ordering the inmates to get out of their cells. Rio came out and looked around. 

Jude strutted through the hallway, ordering a room search. One of the orderlies found bread in Pepper’s room and Jude reprimanded her, telling her she should remember not to bring food into her room. A girl a few feet away smirked. 

“I got a cucumber in my room. But not because I was hungry…” She said in a husky voice and Rio cracked up. “That’s funny.” The girl eyed her a bit unsure, not a lot of women in here seemed to like her. Most were put off by how openly sexual she was. But this girl…there was something different about her. 

“Stifle yourself, Shelly. I’ll be with you in a minute.” Jude said in an irritated tone of voice and turned her attention back to a dark-haired woman. Rio saw that it was the woman that accused Jude of bringing her here against her will. The woman was getting in trouble for hiding something in her pillow case and Rio shivered. She turned back to the blonde-haired girl close to her.

“So you’re Shelly, huh? Heard a lot about you. I’m Rio. Nice to meet you.” She told her and extended her hand. Shelly gave her a small smile and shook her hand. 

“Yeah, I am. Who are you? I didn’t see you around here yet.” 

Rio let out a bitter chuckle. “You got that right. I’m quite new. Weren’t you there during lunch? Sister Mary Sunshine over there introduced me during that.” She said as she nodded in Jude’s direction. 

Shelly grinned proudly and nodded in the direction of one of the younger guards with a meaningful look in her eyes. She was sure Rio would be put off by this but instead she snickered. 

“Oh, I understand, I’d climb that like a pole.” Rio told her and Shelly cackled, making Jude glare in their direction. 

“What’s this? Laughing at your sins?! Acting like it’s all just one big joke? I will tell the Monsignor of this! Was shaving your head not enough punishment, Shelly?” Jude baited them and walked off as she stared at them sternly. Shelly’s face got a tad solemn. Rio frowned. 

“Did Jude do this?” She asked as she gently touched Shelly’s hair, the part that was shaven off. Shelly nodded, tears springing to her eyes. The orderlies guided them back to their cells before Rio was able to question the girl further. But she swore that she would protect Shelly. Against all the misunderstanding, all the hurt and pain that they were causing her. Protect her like nobody protected her when she needed it. 

At breakfast, Rio made sure that she was seated next to Shelly. After the morning prayer, once they were allowed to eat, Rio asked her what her story was. Briefly, Shelly explained why she was here. 

"I fell in love with a bass player. Big mistake. As soon as he put a ring on my finger, I was his property. He could screw every Betty in town, and I had to stay home and scrub his dirty drawers. So come fleet week, he gets home and finds me in bed with two Navy guys. And I told him: "It's not for self but for country." He decked me flat out, threw me in the car and locked me in the nuthouse. And the sickest part? They let him. Because I like sex. That's my crime."

“That’s disgusting!” Rio cried out and Shelly glared at her. “No, not that you are disgusting, it’s disgusting that they keep you here because you like sex!” The explanation made Shelly smile again. But Jude interrupted their moment. 

“This afternoon, at precisely 2 O’clock, you two are expected at the Monsignor’s office. He is greatly displeased with your vulgar display and will take action accordingly. If I were you, I’d at least act contrite.” 

The two girls exchanged looks as Jude strutted off and seemed to be thinking the same thing.   
“Drive them crazy?” Shelly asked. Rio high-fived her. “You got it, sister.” 

“Drive them crazy, does that include me, Rio?” A voice suddenly asked and when Rio turned around she stared into Oliver’s kind face. She smiled. 

“Of course not, you’re on our side, Olly.” She replied kindly and Shelly instantly tried to flirt with the good doctor. Shyly he turned her down. 

“Rio, our appointment, shall we go?” Rio winked at Shelly as she got up. “See you later, sister.”

“Your plan of angering sister Jude and the Monsignor is not a wise one, you know that, right?” Doctor Thredson asked Rio as they went on their way to doctor Arden’s office. Rio scoffed. 

“I don’t care, do you have any idea what goes on around here? It’s despicable. They are punishing poor Shelly, just cause she enjoys sex. That is horrible!”   
“My diagnosis would be that Shelly is a nymphomaniac, but I do agree that treatment is preferable over punishment.” Oliver replied, obviously sharing Rio’s worries. 

Doctor Arden was at work in his office and looked rather surprised at the visit of the red-haired woman and the psychiatrist. 

“Miss Taylor, doctor Thredson, to what do I owe this visit?” He asked them kindly. Rio drifted off for a moment, something sounded off in his tone of voice. She couldn’t put her finger on it so she tried to sound casual. 

“I eh…came to ask you if wanted to show doctor Thredson my phone. Jude and the Monsignor said they didn’t believe me and…” Rio couldn’t help it. Her voice broke and tears poured from her eyes. Before she knew it she was sobbing heavily. 

“I don’t belong here, I just ended up in that closet by mistake, please help me? They want to keep me here..” 

Both men stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to console her. Doctor Arden guided them inside and pointed at the table where he had been working. 

“Be my guest and check it out, but I have to admit it stopped working when I took it apart.” 

“Dude!” Rio cried out in a frustrated manner when she saw her phone in bits and pieces on the table of the doctor. 

“I told you not to take it apart! For fuck sake, look at it!” If she had seen the shocked look on both their faces, she surely would have snickered over it. But she was too busy trying to put her phone back together. 

Doctor Arden stared intently at the swift movements of her hands, working on that phone as if she put it back together a million times before this day already. He could see she was a professional, so her claiming to be a scientist started to sound more believable. 

“There, that should do it.” Rio mumbled and turned the device back on. Time travel must have been hard on the device’s inner computer, the date and time kept changing. But at least she could show Oliver a few things on her phone now. 

“Doctor Arden, what is your analysis?” Oliver asked him. 

“I still cannot say for sure. But I can see that miss Taylor is skilled. Not a lot of women would be able to work technology as she just did. Time travel…the concept is a bit beyond me, but I think it’s not as simple as Jude and Timothy are making it out to be.” 

Oliver nodded while Arthur gave him his opinion. Rio was too busy going through the pictures on her phone. Her friends, her science partner….how she missed them. Would they miss her? The pictures gave her an idea. To this point, she only showed the rest the time machine. But she would do better in showing her pictures of her friends, with their modern clothing. 

“Olly, dr. Arden, can you two take a look at this?” She asked, holding out her phone. “See? These are my friends, and that guy is my partner at work, Tony. See how they are dressed? That’s not normal fashion for this time, huh?” 

“Silly as this may sound, I have to admit that time travel sounds like the most logical explanation for what happened.” Oliver carefully said. And suddenly it dawned on her. How she could prove herself. 

“It’s September, isn’t it?” She asked and grinned wide as Oliver and Arthur nodded. “On 31th of August, Englert and Brout predicted a particle called the "God-particle", the particle is the particle associated with the Higgs field, an energy field that transmits mass to the things that travel through it. A few weeks from now, Peter Higgs will release a scientific paper confirming this. In the future, it will be called the Higgs Boson Particle. And in 2013, its existence will be fully proven." 

Oliver had heard about it and gave Rio a shocked look. “There is no way she can know that.” Arden nodded. Rio sighed in relief. At least she convinced them.   
“Jude and Timothy will not believe you, no matter how much science you throw at them. I will help you get back to your own time, if you help me with a few things in exchange.” Arthur told her, always looking for ways to benefit from the situation. “You will have to remain in Briarcliff, try not to get into too much trouble and keep quiet to the others about this.” 

Rio mumbled an agreement but didn’t seem too excited. She was at the same place now that she thought she was when she first when to see doctor Arden. 

“I have to be off, I have a prior engagement, I am sure doctor Arden has much more work to do, Rio, shall we leave him to his work?” Doctor Thredson suggested and Rio nodded, following with a defeatist attitude. 

She kept to herself, observing the others while sitting in the common room, listening to that horrible song that kept playing over and over. Once it was time to see the Monsignor, she collected Shelly and went to his office. He was waiting behind his desk, staring at them through the smoke of the cigarette he was smoking, Jude glaring at them from a corner. 

“So. I hear you girls think it’s funny to be sinners. That ends today.”


	5. Sins and prayers

Rio and Shelly looked at each other and couldn’t help but to giggle, to great dismay of the Monsignor and sister Jude. 

“Do you think this is funny? Acting like the whore of Babylon?” Jude asked in a gasp. 

Shelly was hurt and averted her gaze. “I hate that word, it’s so ugly.” She softly murmured. Rio, however, couldn’t hold in her laughter. Jude looked even more angered and glanced at the Monsignor.

“Timothy, I think some hard labour will clear the demons out of these girls. I suggest we give them the task of tidying up your library. We both know it needs it. After that, they can help out in the bakery.” 

“But I just had bakery duty!” Shelly protested, but Rio playfully punched her arm.   
“Hey, don’t worry about it, it will be fun.” She said and winked. 

Shelly got a big grin on her face. “I guess I’m ready to squeeze some buns over there. If Jake has duty too…” Rio threw her head back and laughed out loud. The Monsignor had been quiet until now, he was too busy thinking of an excuse why the girls could not enter the library. But now he had to take action. And they gave him a chance. 

“Enough!| He shouted at the girls and they quieted down, gazing at the floor as they tried not to snicker. The Monsignor glared at them and then glanced at Jude. 

“Sister Jude, I think the library is not punishment enough, perhaps a caning is in order instead?”   
Jude frowned in surprise, usually the Monsignor was against corporal punishment. She was surprised at her own gut feeling as well. She was quick to use the cane, too quick at times. But now she found that she did not want to use it. This girl, Rio. She was strange but had been kind to Jude, even when she had not given her any reason to be. On top of that, the girls were making a harmless joke. Inappropriate, but harmless. 

“Monsignor, perhaps the caning can form as a secondary punishment, should they not perform well in the duties we have given them? After all, to heir is human, to forgive divine?” She reminded him. He gave her a look. 

“Sister Jude, you will administer the caning and they will perform their duties in the bakery, that is final. Now get out, all of you. You are giving me a headache!” 

Jude nodded at the girls to indicate that they should follow them. Rio huffed as she walked by the holy man. “His head is aching alright, but not the one we think.” She murmured. “Out!” 

Both Shelly and Rio snickered some more but stopped when they saw how serious Jude was being. Right, Rio thought. A caning. Well, that was going to be unpleasant. 

“Girls, listen to me and listen very carefully.” The nun stated as she led them towards a little hallway, not far from the Monsignor’s office. 

“I am not going to cane you. Even though I think your behaviour is questionable, I don’t think it deserves the punishment that the Monsignor wants you to receive. I expect you to tidy up the library as best you can and then hurry to the bakery to help out there. If the Monsignor asks, you tell him that I, or sister Mary Eunice tidied up his library as a favour. Also, you will tell him that you have indeed been caned by me. Should you fail in any of this, you will be caned after all. Is this in any way unclear?” 

The girls shook their heads and Jude nodded, opening up a door for them. She waved her hand at the door, to indicate that they should go inside. Rio saw that she was about to leave and she gently touched her arm. 

“Thank you. For helping us out.” She told the nun, who glared at her now.   
“Don’t get used to it, miss Taylor. Now get to work.”   
As Jude walked away, she realized again how much she hated the girl and regretted not taking the chance on hurting her. And at the same time, she felt a certain tranquillity that she wasn’t used to. 

Rio rolled her eyes and stepped into the library, looking around in awe. Rows of bookcases, filled with books of all shapes and sizes. Small, big, thin, thick. Black covers, brown covers, green covers. Hardly any titles, most books were marked with a Roman number on the cover. 

“This place is a pit!” Shelly exclaimed as she sighed and put her hands in her sides. Rio nodded but was excited nonetheless. She loved old fashioned library’s and this was a little jewel. There was a fireplace, a big sturdy chair near it, with a small table and an old fashioned lamp. 

“Let’s just get started before sister Mary Cane comes back.” Rio joked, making Shelly snicker. They each started at a different side of the room, first organizing the books by colour and size, then putting them back onto the shelves. It was clear that Shelly wasn’t a bookworm, she organized the books without paying much attention to them. But Rio on the other hand wanted to know all about them. She gently caressed the covers, tracing the Roman numbers with her fingertips. It was wrong to snoop, she knew that, but she had to know what the Monsignor was reading. Maybe she would be able to borrow a few books while she was here, to kill some time. So she opened a particularly heavy book, with a green cover and the number III on the cover, in gold print. She carefully opened the book and read a random sentence. For a few moments, she had no idea what was going on. 

The stable boy’s throbbing member poked Isabelle’s hip and she felt a quivering desire to bed him. 

What? What?! This was…this…the Monsignor was reading dirty books! This was the joke of the century. Ro flipped through the book and noticed that it was indeed an on-going story about a stable boy and a rich lady, having a romance without anyone knowing about it. She picked up another book and saw a story between a knight and a princess, also dirty. The third book she glanced in had a story about a servant woman and a pirate king. 

“Score…” She whispered with a wide grin. “What was that?” Shelly asked without any real interest, still stacking the books in the bookcase. 

“Oh, nothing, I eh…I like books.” Rio explained, also putting the books back in the bookcase now. She didn’t want Shelly to know. The girl was nice, but it didn’t seem like she would be able to keep this a secret. Rio didn’t want all of Briarcliff to know this little bit. She had a feeling this would come in handy later, if she used this information right. Poor guy, Rio thought with a bit of a snicker, he was reading all these dirty books and probably was never relieving himself. No wonder he was so high strung all the time. 

Once the library was properly sorted, the girls went for bakery duty. Rio had fun, working with her hands and all that. But after a while it got dull and her muscles started to hurt. The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Until that night. 

There where whispers, rumours among the inmates that a possessed boy was brought in. A Mexican woman told Rio that there would be an exorcism. 

Rio met her at the bakery and the poor thing was so relieved to find someone that was able to speak Spanish that they talked for over two hours. The thought of an exorcism, it was so…so medieval! Rio felt shocked and needed to get to the bottom of this. She also realized she was talking to institutionalized criminals, so not all whispers and rumours were true. 

After dinner, she sneaked out of the common room, determined to find out what was really going on. When she got out to the hallway her heart skipped a beat as she heard the terrible scream of agony coming from upstairs. Nearby, a middle-aged man and woman were holding hands, crying. The woman saw Rio’s spooked look and sniffled. 

“Our poor boy…he is possessed….the good priests are performing an exorcism on him, we are praying he makes it.” She told the girl and Rio felt an anxiety attack come on. Her palms got sweaty, her heart and head started to pound and the blood rushed to her cheeks as the pace of her breath picked up. She walked a bit closer to the woman, feeling like she would crash to the floor since her knees were so wobbly. Her tongue felt like a leather flap in her mouth and she could only imagine how she looked in this state. 

“I hope with all my heart that your boy comes out healthy again.” Rio told the both of them and held the woman’s hands for a few moments. She nodded thankfully and then clung to her husband for support again. 

Rio went upstairs and soon heard from what room the boy was screaming. The screams contained a mixture of intense pain and anger, fear and a need to do evil at the same time. Again a panic attack tried to take over Rio, but she swallowed hard and kept going, she needed to see what was going on. The sight of what was going on was not a pretty one. Rio was sure she could never forget the image. A young boy was tied to the bed, his head red with anger and scars. He kept pushing his body up so Rio could see up his paperlike dress that all the patients were wearing here and the many wounds and bruises were visible. Sister Jude was alone in the room and looked absolutely freaked out. As soon as our young heroin stepped over the threshold, the door closed behind her, causing her to gasp in fear. 

“Wha..miss Taylor! What would the Monsignor say if he saw you here, return to your room at once!” Jude shrieked but Rio was too enthralled by what she saw. This medieval sight of a boy strapped to a bed, that obviously needed mental healthcare and medication, it brought tears to her eyes. After all, she was a scientist and didn’t believe the boy was truly possessed. Until he opened his mouth. 

“Look, another little whore….but you are not from here….” The last word was spoken with a growl, sending shivers down the spines of the two women in the room. “You are…from…the future!” The boy went on and she snarled at her. “Non-believing bitch!” He spat and cried out in agony again. Rio’s heart pounded in her chest and her tongue felt like leather in her mouth. Then he turned his attention back to Jude like he did before. “And a murderer! A murderer and a non-believing bitch from the future! What a pair!” 

Jude attacked the boy, slapping him across his cheeks where she could. Rio wanted to stop her but in that moment, the door was yanked open behind them and the Monsignor stepped in, accompanied by Oliver Thredson and a third priest. “Out, out now!” Timothy growled at both Jude and Rio as they tried to get the boy to calm down. “That's right, Father, protect your whore. It's you she thinks of when she touches herself at night.” The boy eerily grunted. 

As the men continued with their exorcism, sister Mary Eunice appeared behind all of them. Rio saw her as she turned around, to run out of the room. What happened next was almost like it happened in slow motion, but Rio knew what she saw. The boy’s body jerked upwards with a particularly nasty shriek, demanding Rio’s attention to it. Then she saw the Monsignor stumble backwards, as if something had jumped from the boy’s body to him. The holy man opened his eyes and stared at her, his pupils pitch black. The second Rio opened her mouth to scream, it was gone. Behind her, sister Mary Eunice fainted. Rio soon did the same. 

Slowly opening her eyes, the young woman groaned as she felt a terrible headache take over her entire being. Someone was sitting next to her and she was laying in a bed, that much she knew. But it was everything she could figure out at the moment. 

“Sssh, relax, you’ve had quite a blow to the head.” A soothing voice told her and Rio groaned some more. “Wha…wait..what…happened..” She slurred, realizing she wasn’t able to speak very well.   
“You fainted, at the exorcism.” A male voice told her and Rio sat up a bit, her blurred vision now forming actual images. The Monsignor was sitting next to her. A spooked look came over her as he gently dabbed her forehead with a cool cloth. “Relax, you are safe.” The man told her, but Rio caught the hint of annoyance in his voice. She sniffled a bit and averted her gaze. Apparently this set off the anger of the priest. 

“Do you have any idea how much danger you put yourself in? And sister Jude? All of us?!” He asked Rio in a raised voice and the girl broke down in tears. She didn’t ask for any of this, she was just trying to win the science fair prize for her and Tony, by getting out the last few bugs from their machine. She didn’t ask to be transported here, to get corporal punishment, to be treated like this just for being a girl. And she certainly didn’t ask to witness an exorcism. True, she had gone upstairs on her own, but only because she didn’t believe it could be true. Her tears made Timothy uncomfortable and he cleared his throat as he shifted in his seat. 

“I didn’t ask for this, you dick! If you’d just let me go or give me the key to that damn closet, I’d be out of your hair!” She yelled at him, sounding shrill and on the verge of hysteria. The Monsignor grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her head back, making her gasp in pain. And something she didn’t want to name. “Lower your voice.” He told her in a soft but stern tone. 

Rio felt a tingling go through her body and she bit her lip as she stared up at him. “Or else?” She asked him huskily, grinning smugly. Oh, how she loved this, egging him on until he felt too awkward to speak. But it didn’t seem to work this time. He stared back at her, with as much lust in his eyes as her. “Or else I’ll throw you over my knee and spank you till you beg to be fucked.” He whispered, his eyes going blacker for a few seconds. Rio blinked but in the same moment it was gone. “What?” She asked him softly, but the holy man didn’t answer. He stood up and let go of her hair, adjusting his jacket as if nothing happened. 

“The nurse said you needed rest, so you will stay in bed. Tomorrow we will see if you feel better and if you do, you can continue your chores.” And with those words, the man strode out of the room. Rio curled up under the blankets and cried some more as a numbing fear spread through her body. If she told her partner this, he’d surely laugh at her. He’d laugh at a lot of stories coming from this place. But Rio knew what she saw and even though there was no proof, the woman was certain. A demon possessed that boy and as it left his body, it passed through the Monsignor. The only question left was if it was still here.


	6. Back in the closet

Rio heard sister Mary Eunice and dr. Arden talk, the nun laying a few beds away from her own. Once dr. Arden had examined her, he came Rio’s way. 

“Dr. Arden, please…Monsignor Howard…is not well…He’s…the demon..” Rio babbled, feeling incredibly scared at the moment. Dr. Arden chuckled and sat by her bedside. 

“Miss Taylor, I didn’t expect you to come up with this nonsense. You know the boy had a psychosis, he wasn’t possessed.” Rio shook her head. 

“I know what I saw, doctor. Something passed through him. And he knew things he wasn’t able to know, like me being from the future. When will we start on getting me back, by the way?” 

“First you need to rest. You fainted and need to become stronger first. Then we will meet whenever we are able to, to find out what exactly happened and what we can do to reverse what has been done.” 

Rio huffed a bit, but nodded. She wasn’t some small child that needed mothering, she was a grown woman and needed to go home. But for her own sake, she’d do what the doctor ordered and pretend she was taking it slow. Dr. Arden left after saying goodbye to her and sister Mary Eunice. 

“He’s helping you with something?” A voice suddenly sounded next to her, making Rio gasp in shock. 

“Fuck! You scared me, yeah, he’s helping me.” Sister Mary Eunice clucked her tongue. 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, cursing like that, miss Taylor? That’s not very ladylike, is it? You don’t know proper manners, it’s a miracle sister Jude didn’t cane you yet.” Then she gave Rio the glance over. “But from what I’ve seen…you’d rather be caned by the Monsignor anyway.” 

Before Rio could respond, the nun gave her an eerie smile and walked away, probably changing back into her long black dress. Huh, if she went against dr. Arden’s orders to stay in bed, there was no reason Rio should stay here herself. Olly, that’s who she wanted to find. He was the most reasonable one in this joint. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but dr. Arden gave her the chills for some reason. 

“Hey, where have you been, I missed you at breakfast.” Rio heard behind her and turned around. Shelly. 

“Gods, I’m so glad to see you.” Rio murmured and her voice broke as she started to cry. Shelly stepped up and hugged her tight, softly rocking her. 

“What’s wrong, I heard you were attacked?”  
=============================================================================================================  
“JARVIS?” 

“Yes, sir?” 

“Any sign of Rio yet?” 

“No sir, but I will keep looking. It appears more and more logical that she tinkered with the time machine the moment she disappeared, sir. We have to consider the option miss Taylor is no longer in our time.” 

Tony sighed and threw a wrench across the workplace in frustration. His partner had been missing for a few days now and he got more worried by the hour. At first he didn’t want to believe the option that she disappeared into the time machine but what else could it be? 

“Can you scan the existing timelines for disturbances?” 

“Yes, sir, right away.” 

=============================================================================================================

“Miss Taylor, pay attention please.” 

“Wait, what?” 

Rio looked at dr. Arden and realized she had been staring around his office with an open mouth. 

“Sorry, what did you ask? I-I am a bit…amazed at your office.” The girl admitted with a chuckle and the doctor gave her a polite smile, not sure how to handle a compliment. 

“As I said, please pay attention. As we speak, dr. Thredson is working on the Monsignor to try and get you access to that broom closet you rolled out of. He will join us later. We scratch your back, you scratch ours, yes?” 

Dr. Arden didn’t really want Rio poking around in that closet, for he wanted to keep her here as long as he could to ask questions and learn more. But on the other hand, if there was a portal to another time, maybe he could use it as well. 

“Yeah, yeah, of course, what was your question?”  
Rio thought of scratching Olly’s back now, while riding him that is. 

“Your time machine, how did you built it?” 

It took Rio a few seconds before she could answer. 

“To begin, I didn’t build it alone, I built it with my partner, Tony. But what we did was…” 

Meanwhile, Oliver Thredson was trying to win over Monsignor Howard. However, the clergy man did not cave easily. 

“There is no reason for that girl to be in that closet, doctor, that is final. We have a very sick girl on our hands and it honestly surprises me that you are trying to go along with it, instead of giving her the treatment that she so obviously needs!” Timothy practically growled, earning himself a strange look of dr. Thredson. 

“Monsignor, I am sure you did not just question my expertise. I agree that this girl seems instable, but I also think she provided us with enough proof to at least check out…” 

“Enough! She stays! Now get out, you tire me out!” 

Oliver was taken back by the harsh words of someone he considered to be soft-hearted. A plan formed in his head and he gave Timothy nod. 

“Of course, father.” The mocking tone he used made Timothy glare at him but Oliver paid no mind to it as he left the small office. 

“..And that’s how we created the time machine. We were supposed to go to a science fair with it, but there were a few loose bolts. I wanted to tighten them up before he came back with lunch. There was a spark, I stumbled back and my hand landed on the small control panel. I am guessing I must have punched in the year 1964 by mistake. That, or there is an energy here, something else that created a hole in time. We could check it out, but we need the key to the closet and we need mister Pope to stay out of the way.” 

Dr. Arden had listened to Rio with only occasional nods and hums, playing with his pen as he forgot to take notes. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. There was evidence that there was more to this girl than a mental illness and a made up story, but time travel? Could he really believe that? 

“And in the future, what happened to science? To medicine? Will human experiments ever be legal?” 

The question made Rio frown and she felt uncomfortable. Why was this one of the first things he wanted to know? 

“No, there is animal testing but there are activists that are trying to get that banned. Surely, we don’t want to add even more suffering to the world, especially when it serves no purpose.” She said in a sharp tone. 

“Progress is purpose. A very good one, I may add.” 

Rio kept silent, she was against it, no matter how much progress it caused. There were limits. Causing suffering to allegedly prevent suffering? It didn’t make sense in her head. 

“What’s your next question?” 

Before Arden answered, there was a knock on the door and Oliver entered the room. Both dr. Arden and Rio looked at him in anticipation. 

“He said no.” 

A sigh of disappointment came from the both of them. Rio stood up, tears filling her eyes and she stomped out of the room to throw herself onto her bed. Dr. Thredson followed her after excusing himself with dr. Arden. 

“That doesn’t mean his answer is final though, does it?” Oliver asked her with a twinkle in his eyes, once he caught up to her and sat down next to her on her bed. Rio grinned. 

“I think I am starting to have a bad influence on you, Olly.” 

Now the man gave her a look that made him look slightly deranged, but Rio managed to keep her smile up. 

“What is your plan?” 

“We will need a distraction,” Oliver explained. “I was thinking we could involve one of the others in it, maybe Pepper?” Rio shook her head. 

“No, that girl has been through enough, I’ll ask Shelly. She is my friend.”

“Very well, as you may have heard, Jude is arranging a movie to be shown in the common room, but Timothy hardly attends anything social. Shelly could cause a diversion that needs his attention and while he and the others are away, we will sneak into his office and steal the keys to the broom closet. If you buy ourselves enough time, you should be able to search through the closet to try and active your eh….time machine…” 

Rio could see the doubt appear in Olly’s eyes as he explained this to her and she felt her enthusiasm lessen. 

“I’m not lying..” The girl mumbled and felt a panic attack come on. She started to open and close her hands, to try and cool down her heated palms as she in- and exhaled sharply a few times. She was able to calm herself down and she stood up. 

“Let’s go find Shelly.” 

Rio entered the kitchen, dr. Thredson waiting in the hallway, finding Shelly talking to Grace. A French girl that was here for axe murdering her family. Rio couldn’t fully make out what they were saying, but she heard something about an escape. She frowned at the blonde girl, she’d expected her to involve Rio as well. But Grace made it pretty clear she had no mind to include Shelly in her plans and walked past Rio, hissing at her. 

“If you tell on us, I will scratch your eyes out.” 

“I was going to include you. But maybe we should find our own way out. Grace won’t have us with her and her little team.” Shelly told Rio and the girl felt a feeling of relief go through her. 

“Maybe I have a better plan anyways. I am going to investigate something and I need you to distract the Monsignor for me. If I succeed…I can take you with me to a certain place.  
That place is where I came from originally. Its…more accepting for girls like you and me. Do you want that? Leave this time behind?” 

Shelly thought Rio really lost her mind this time, but with Grace turning her down and a chance she might still get out of here, was too good to ruin with questions. 

“I’m in, what do I need to do?” 

Dr. Thredson informed Shelly and a few times the girl demanded that they stopped talking, since it was far too much for her to comprehend but after a while, she started to believe them. 

“Is dr. Arden involved?” Shelly asked with suspicion in her voice. Rio and Oliver both agreed a bit reluctant. 

“But he is not in on the plans we have for tonight, I got a bad vibe from him earlier.” Rio assured her friend and Shelly nodded. “Good.” 

“I do have a promise to keep, a promise I made to miss Winters.” Oliver stated. “And I intend to keep it. That means I have to leave the asylum for now but I will make sure to return here later. The movie will start at 9. Everyone will gather half an hour early. At 8:45 I will start my round, show my face so nobody suspects I am helping the both of you out. Shelly needs to get the Monsignor out of his office within these 15 minutes before the movie starts. That way, we will have the entire duration of the film to investigate. And I can make sure to talk to Lana during it.” 

The girls nodded. Shelly looked worried all of a sudden. 

“We need a plan, for when any of us get caught.” 

Oliver nodded and thought his words over before he started to speak. 

“I hope you understand that if either of us is caught, we can’t admit that the others are involved. If you girls are caught, I will deny any involvement, for the sake of us all. If I am fired or arrested, I am no longer able to help. Please understand this.” 

Again the girls nodded and they discussed a few more details before going their separate ways for now. 

That night, Shelly stormed into the office of the Monsignor, not bothering to knock, of course. 

“Shelly! What is the meaning of this? Why are you not with the others, watching the movie?” The holy man scalded her, angered that he was disturbed during his fantasy of a certain red-haired girl. 

“Monsignor, you have to come and see this! Someone…in the kitchen!” Shelly said out of breath, clutching her chest for dramatic effect. The holy man sighed annoyed. 

“Is it not possible to get one of the others?” But Shelly shook her head. 

“No, sir! The…movie..I-I don’t want to disturb anyone! They will hurt me but you…you are so kind-hearted…” 

Flattery and pride were the greatest weaknesses of the Monsignor, at least in this moment. The man stood up and followed Shelly to the kitchen, where someone wrote obscene slurs on the walls. With a grumble, Timothy picked up a sponge and wetted it, adding some soap to it as well. 

“Shelly, pick up a sponge and help me clean this. Shelly?” 

By now, Shelly already left the kitchen again and locked the door behind her so he would be trapped. It couldn’t be linked back to Rio, if anyone would ask her about it later, she would simply say that she scribbled the obscenity herself to have a laugh with the Monsignor. Which wasn’t even a full lie. She hurried back to the office, where Rio was already scanning the place for a key. 

“Check the pocket of his jacket, he left it on his chair.” Shelly pointed out and Rio nodded, searching the piece of clothing for the object she needed so badly. 

“Got ‘em!” She said with a grin when she found a pair, convinced that these had to be the ones to that closet. They just had to be, if he kept them on him like this. Part of Rio suspected the holy man to keep her away from the closet cause she may be speaking the truth, not because he thought she was telling a lie. 

The girls went out of the office and tried the keys on the door. The third key Rio tried opened the closet up and Rio dove inside. With a lot of noise, in fact. Buckets toppled over, mops fell over each other and bars of soap rained over the girl as she knocked over a stack. 

“Crap! There is nothing here!” Rio exclaimed as she felt the stone walls for openings or clues. And then the reality dawned on her. What was she expecting? If she did create a worm-hole or a time portal, how did she expect to open it up again? She would need tools and supplies…she would need her own time. 

“Well, what’s supposed to be here?” Shelly asked her in a panicked tone, seeing her one chance to escape go to shit. 

“I can tell you what is not supposed to be here….two naughty girls not minding the rules…” A voice sounded from behind them and the both of them gasped as they hurried out of the closet. 

The Monsignor stood there, sister Mary Eunice behind him shaking her head at them. She must have let him out after Shelly left to help Rio. 

“Shelly, sister Mary Eunice will bring you to your room. I will deal with you in the morning, once sister Jude is back to her old self again. I believe she is rather unwell at the moment. Miss Taylor…in my office. Now.” 

The girls were too shaken up to object, so Shelly gave Rio a reassuring squeeze in her arm before following sister Mary Eunice to her room. Rio bowed her head and went into the office of the holy man, trying to figure out some sort of excuse. She heard the door slam behind her and felt his arms twisting hers behind her back. 

“Over the desk, now.” He growled in her ear and she nodded, placing her hands and upper body over his desk so her behind was in the air. 

Without a warning, his hand came down on her cheeks, making the girl gasp in shock and pain. 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such insolence…” He whispered and spanked her again. Rio let out a sound that was a mixture of pleasure and pain and Timothy felt pleasure surging through his own body as well. But he stepped back and smirked. 

“Sister Jude, you may come in now.” 

Rio let out a whimper when she realized that Timothy lied to them, sister Jude wasn’t unwell at all. If she was able to see the nun come in, she would have seen the obvious inebriated state of the woman. So the words of the Monsignor hadn’t been a complete lie. 

“Cane her.” He told the nun and sat back in his chair to watch. Without hesitation Jude allowed her cane to come down on the bottom of the girl over and over again. After a few slaps Rio understood that there was no way for her to go home. There was no way out. 

She was stuck at Briarcliff.


	7. Music

“Stop, stop! Please”! Rio cried out in tears when Jude kept bringing the cane down on her, as the Monsignor watched her every move. 

“That’s enough, Jude. Now go to bed, Shelly needs a caning in the morning.” Timothy instructed her and the nun nodded, giving Rio the glance over with a look of hate in her eyes. 

“Good night, Monsignor.” 

Rio hid her face in her hands as she kept sobbing from pain. The Monsignor stood behind her and gently caressed her battered behind. Rio shuddered and hissed as it stung like mad. 

“I told you not to go in there. Why are you not minding me?” He asked her casually, a hint of threat in his voice, as if he was punishing a child for stealing a piece of candy. 

“I just want to go home…I miss Tony, I miss my own time!” Rio blubbered and Timothy let out a hum at hearing the name. 

“Tony hm? And this is your husband?” 

“No, I’d never marry him! Besides, he has a girl, Pepper. We just work together, were good friends. But he must miss me and…” 

Then it dawned on her. Tony and JARVIS must know she was missing by now. And Tony would definitely find a way to get her back. All she had to do was wait and comb out the asylum for other ways out. 

“Never mind, I’ll behave from now.” She whispered, and the Monsignor helped her up, moving her so that they were facing each other. 

“So you learned your lesson?” He asked a tad too smug. Rio got pissed, so pissed. Her body was shaking from the impact and from the rage she felt on the inside. 

“Yes.” She replied, despite her anger. This was not a time for revenge. This was a time to be careful, to make sure she got out of here without further damage. 

“Wonderful, then you may return to your room and go to sleep, we will find a chore for you in the morning to keep you busy.” 

For once Rio did as she was told, she didn’t want anything else to happen to her. Or to Shelly. She felt bad that her friend was going to be caned in the morning. To sooth her guilt, Rio told herself that she would go in there with a wet cloth as soon as she could. 

With this in mind, the girl drifted off into a restless sleep, full of scary dreams and terrors. At dawn, she finally decided to get out of bed since sleep wasn’t doing her any good. Pacing around, she waited around for a guard to let her out of her room. 

“The Monsignor wants to see you in half an hour.” The guard told her and Rio nodded. She took a few minutes to freshen up and hurried off to Shelly first, snagging a washing cloth from a laundry cart first. Something told her that if the Monsignor was up, Jude would be up as well. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw Jude come out of Shelly’s room. The soft sobbing that Rio heard broke her heart. Making sure that Jude didn’t see her, she sneaked into Shelly’s room and broke into tears as soon as she saw her friend. 

“Don’t cry, Rio, please?” Shelly asked sadly as she tried to turn on her side. The poor girl was laying on her stomach, her bottom exposed and covered in welts from Jude’s caning. Rio went over to the little sink in the corner of the room and wetted the wash cloth, still sniffling. 

“I’m so sorry, I never wanted this.” She told her in a raspy voice and gently dabbed the welts with the wash cloth. Shelly hissed at the pain at first but then moaned in appreciation of the soothing feeling. 

“I’m not mad at you, I knew the risks. I heard that the ones that tried to escape are in worse trouble, so maybe we got lucky they didn’t want our help.” The girl assured her friend. 

Now that the pain was lessening, Shelly sat up and took Rio’s hand in her own. “Nobody is nice to me for long. I wanna…thank you.” Rio smiled. 

“No need, I got you in trouble after all.” She answered shyly and it dawned on her how pretty Shelly was, even after what was probably a terrible night. Her cheeks turned red when Shelly smiled at her the way that she did. Being bisexual wasn’t something to flaunt with in the restricted sixties. How could Rio tell her? In her own time, she was open and secure about it, but this environment preached shame no matter what. 

“Why are you blushing?” Shelly asked her, laughing but a little surprised at the same time. Rio averted her eyes and started to mumble but Shelly kept looking at her as if she was waiting for an answer. 

In a bold move, Rio cupped Shelly’s face and leaned forward to ever so gently pressed her lips against hers. With the softest of whimpers, Shelly leaned in as well and deepened the kiss. Rio felt a surge of desire go through her and tangled her hand into Shelly’s hair, to grip at it. Shelly gasped for air and sat back, gazing at Rio with a mixture need and surprise. 

“I-I never…did that…before..”

Rio let out a chuckle. “I did, I eh…like boys and girls so to say. Did you like it?” 

A knock in the door made them both gasp and sit back. Two piercing eyes, filled with rage and lust, stared at the both of them from behind the bars of the door. Rio got up and started to stutter an explanation. 

“I eh…Shelly was upset and so was I…” Shelly kept quiet, she was afraid they were in even more trouble. Even though the Monsignor had reason to be angered, he wasn’t throwing around punishments or even insults. 

“Miss Taylor, my office. Now. Shelly…stay out of trouble for at least week!” He hissed at the both of them. “Yes, Monsignor.” They answered at the same time and laughed once he was out of sight. 

“We know what he’ll be praying for before bed!” Rio blurted out, making Shelly grab her stomach as she laughed out loud. “Stop, stop, this is so bad!” She answered and smiled once she regained herself. 

Rio hesitated before she left. She only now noticed that Shelly made her have fluttery feelings.

“So eh…did you like it?” 

“I eh…” Rio looked down. If Shelly didn’t say yes right away, that was a clear sign that she didn’t feel the same. “I am open and all…but…I just…don’t want things to get complicated, you know?” 

Putting on her best “I-am-fine-face”, Rio smiled at her. “No worries. I’ll come to see you later, going to see his holiness first.” 

Before Shelly was able to console her friend, Rio left, letting a few tears out between Shelly’s room and the office of the Monsignor. She knocked on the Monsignor’s door and entered, averting his gaze as she stood in front of his desk with her hands clasped behind her back. 

“I want you to clean out all the closets in this asylum, including the attic. Since you are so fond of dark and damp places.” Timothy started, feeling pretty smug with himself and majorly awkward at the same time. “You will throw out what is broken and restore what you are able to, see if you can make this asylum better. Since you are so prone on letting everyone know how you know better.” 

Rio was able to keep her face stoic and serious but inside she was cheering. He gave her free range! She would be able to explore every little nook and crevice of this place and he wouldn’t say a thing about it! Apparently he thought she wouldn’t be able to escape anyway, since her trip to the closet failed the other day. 

“Yes, Monsignor.” She merely answered, keeping her head bowed as if she was trying to tell him how contrite she was being. Father Howard looked her over, with less shame and more lust than he usually did. 

“On top of that I expect you and Shelly to be here every day after supper. To teach you both about our lord and saviour.” 

Now Rio looked up through her lashes, a playful smile around her lips. Sister Mary Eunice came in, catching what was said last. 

“Teaching the girls, Monsignor? Would you like my presence with that? I’d love the chance to learn from it as well.” She asked him with her eerie smile. Timothy gave her a weak smile. This wasn’t his intention but he saw no way out. 

“Of course, sister Mary Eunice, what a great addition to our little class.” 

The look that the nun shot her made Rio think this wasn’t about teaching or learning at all. She wanted to prevent Shelly and Rio to be alone with him. Was she jealous? Did she have feelings for him as well as Jude did? 

“Well, the more the…Mary-er?” Rio asked, folding her hands together as she gave Timothy and Mary Eunice the time to figure out her little pun. When the Monsignor did, he gave her an annoyed look. “Out, girl! Get to work!” 

Rio left with a last giggle and was a little at ease with being here for the first time since her arrival. This was going to be good. First she collected Shelly and told her the news. 

“We could go together at times, but we’d have to be quiet.” Rio stated with a chuckle as they walked towards the kitchen. Shelly gave her a polite smile. 

“Yeah, maybe.” 

Rio felt hurt, she could see Shelly was keeping distance between them and it was painful. But Rio kept it to herself, it wouldn’t be fair to Shelly to burden her with her feelings, not if Shelly didn’t feel the same. Besides, Rio really didn’t want to lose the friendship. 

At breakfast, Jude made the announcement that there would be arriving a new inmate that afternoon and what Rio’s chores would entail from now on. 

“Miss Taylor is supposed to do these chores alone, so she has a chance to reflect on her behaviour in silence.” Jude explained. “Shelly will join her in lessons with the Monsignor and sister Mary Eunice.” The nun added and Rio could see the pain of being over-looked in this. But this time, she didn’t feel sorry for the woman, not after the pain she caused her. 

Finally breakfast came to an end and Rio was able to start exploring. She figured she would start with the attic and work her way down. Once she arrived at the attic, Rio was completely distracted. She rushed back down and decided to go to the Monsignor instead of Jude, Jude wouldn’t grant her a single thing if she could help it. Without knocking, she rushed into the office and started to blurt out her ideas. 

“I need two hours a day, a room and a small group of people!” 

Timothy rose a brow from where he sat, a cigarette dangling from his lips, more confused than ever. He put down the phone he was holding and the smoke surrounded him as he blew it out.  
Rio shook her head, understanding how illogical she must have sounded.

“Instruments, I found a ton of instruments upstairs. I’d like to set up a glee club, to make the asylum better!” 

“I hardly think singing songs will make this place any better, miss Taylor.” He answered with a smug look on his face. Rio rolled her eyes and sighed. 

“You obviously have no idea how much difference music can make. Some of these patients are going crazy from pure boredom. Imagine how much better they will feel if they can play an instrument or sing a few songs for an hour or two a day. I promise you the place will get a lot better from it.” 

“If you can find someone to oversee this, then perhaps I may allow it.” Rio groaned in frustration, the Monsignor glared at her. “You are still a patient here, miss Taylor, do not forget that. You cannot expect me to let you take a group of inmates and then them god knows what.” 

Rio mumbled that that’s what he and Jude were doing during every sermon and he slammed on the table with his open hand. 

“I am done with your sass, missy!” 

“Maybe I am done with yours!” Rio threw back, suddenly done with everyone’s bullshit. Shelly giving her the cold shoulder, him playing the boss of her while she wasn’t even officially an inmate. Tony not getting her out of here yet. 

The Monsignor growled and grabbed her throat, squeezing it to show his dominance. Rio frowned but did her best to appear unimpressed. 

“I’ve had enough of women not doing as they are told.” He whispered to her, bringing his face close to hers. “I am getting the feeling that caning you received wasn’t enough to make you listen. What do you say, miss Taylor?” 

Rio narrowed her eyes and pressed their bodies together. 

“I think I’d rather be caned by you, on the inside…just like in your dirty stories, Monsignor..” She whispered huskily and started to grind against him. It didn’t matter that she threw Jude under the bus with this little confession, she wanted payback for earlier anyway.

At hearing this, Timothy let go of her throat and had a mixture of shame and surprise on his face. “What?” Rio chuckled and nibbled on his neck between words.  
“Oh you know…in your library…those dirty stories, hidden into the books. Is that a sin, father? To pretend to be virtues while you are not? You’d love to give in, wouldn’t you?” 

The nibbling drove the holy man crazy and he moved the two of them so that Rio was sitting on his desk and he was standing between her legs, grinding against her as well. His bulge brushed against her womanhood over and over, making her gasp and moan. Their gazes were locked as they both reached new levels of pleasure. 

“Do you enjoy corrupting all that is good?” Timothy asked her and she laughed, gasping hard as she was rushed closer to a peak. 

“Do you enjoy my corruption?” She threw back and bit her lip as she was now close to going over the edge he was pushing her against.  
With a growl, he went for her neck, giving it sharp nips and licks, making the girl practically melt against him. “Dirty girl!” He rumbled. 

“Fuck, don’t stop!” She panted and arched her back even more, rolling her hips in time with his rhythm. 

“What in the world is going on here?!” A voice came from behind them and the Monsignor stepped away from Rio, panting softly. Rio closed her legs and looked down embarrassed. 

Jude was standing there, glaring at the both of them, sister Mary Eunice behind her. 

“See, sister, my worries were correct. There was trouble in here. Seems miss Taylor had one of her famous ‘panic attacks’ again and the Monsignor saved her!” She pointed out with a fake smile. Timothy glared back at Jude.

“Sister Jude, before you press any form of judgment here I would like to express again how I do not want miss Taylor messing around in my library. Is that quite clear?”  
Jude closed her mouth, she knew that he knew. Rio must have told him. She narrowed her eyes at the girl, who avoided her gaze. 

“Miss Taylor will start some sort of glee club and I promised her that she could have a free say in the matter. No discussion. Not of this and not of dr. Arden. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He went on and walked past the two nuns out of the office. He needed to pray, to pray for strength to withstand all these temptations and desires. 

Rio grinned at Jude and Mary Eunice.

“I’ll need a room and a group of people. I will also need a guard or two, for if something goes wrong. I promise that you won’t regret this.” 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Jarvis? Any news yet?” Tony asked, pushing a few buttons on a machine. Pepper appeared behind him and hugged him tightly. 

“Tony, come on. Jarvis is looking for her, you can’t stay here forever.” She tried to convince him. 

“Pepper, I need to find her, who knows in what kind of danger she is!” Tony replied and sighed. “Jarvis?” 

“Yes, sir, it seems that it will be more complicated than we thought to get miss Taylor back. You see, she created a wormhole in the past, 1964 to be exact…” 

“Yeah, good, so? We can pinpoint the location and I can recreate it.”

“That’s where it becomes difficult, sir, the asylum that she is in..” 

Tony got a horrified look over him. Rio was in an asylum? In the 60’s? 

“The asylum no longer exists, sir.”  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	8. Messy prayers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: graphic content. It tends to get more graphic from here on out.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What do you mean it no longer exists? It has to exist! How else are we going to get her back?”

Pepper could hear the panic in Tony’s voice. She looked worried herself. “But Tony, can’t you find the spot where the worm hole was supposed to be? I’m sure Jarvis will be able to pinpoint it.” The red-haired women suggested but he shook his head.

“There has to be a floor I can stand on, if it was on the fourth floor and there is nothing but grass there now we’re screwed already.” Tony explained as he paced back and forth.

“We will find a solution, sir, we can rent a forklift if needed. Anything to get miss Taylor back to us.” Jarvis responded. Tony nodded, but stared out the window absentmindedly.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So what is your story? Why are you here?” Rio asked the dark-haired girl. “I noticed you were brought in earlier. I’m here if you want to talk.”

The girl seemed reluctant at first, shaking her head as she rubbed her temples. But then she began to speak.

“They were making fun…they always make fun..so I attacked them.”

“Making fun of what?”

The girl scoffed, as if it was perfectly obvious why the people she mentioned were making fun of her.

“About me being Jewish of course!”

Rio could hear the accent. It appeared German, but it wasn’t. She tilted her head.

“Why would anyone make fun of you being for being Jewish?” She asked. Then she realized that she knew even less of this time than she thought. Maybe it was normal to make fun of Jewish people here. Not that it was right, of course.

But before the girl across from her could answer the question, her eyes grew wide with anger and shock. She saw dr. Arden come near and stood up, pointing at him.

The doctor figured she was merely in shock due to her mental state. “Ah, you must be the new girl.”

“You were there!”

“What?”

“In Auschwitz! Nazi murderer! You Nazi swine!”

“Take this one.” Arden quickly instructed one of the orderlies. They did their best to restrain the girl but she didn’t give up easily.

“Murderer! Nazi swine! Don’t you remember me, Doctor? I am Anne! Anne Frank!”

Rio’s jaw dropped and she stared at doctor Arden. He saw the spooked look on her face and pulled her with him, to his office.

“You did not show up for our scheduled session, miss Taylor!”

“Don’t change the subject, that girl accused you of being a Nazi.”

Arthur laughed. “And you believe a mentally instable girl like that over me? I expected more from a scientist like yourself, miss Taylor. Now answer the question. You did not show up for session. Why not?”

“The Monsignor keeps me busy, he has this assignment for me to empty out the rooms that aren’t being used, to make room for other stuff. Or something.” Rio mumbled, awkwardly. I wasn’t a full lie. It wasn’t the full truth either. But the new girl had scared Rio and she didn’t want to give dr. Arden too much information.

“Yes, I’ve heard. Your little glee club.” Arthur replied smugly and Rio sighed.

“You know what? Fuck you.”

Arden’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. It made Rio laugh. “What?”

“You heard me. Fuck you.” I am so sick of people belittling me, using words as ‘little’ to describe my accomplishments. I get enough of that in my own time, I don’t need it here.”

Arthur wanted to ask something but Rio kept talking.

“Yes, it does get better for us. We are more equal than we are now. But you know what happens in 2016? They will elect a fucking ape for president. A fucking orange ape that condones sexual assault on women, racism against minorities and just hate in general. It does get better, but not good enough. It’s not good enough.”

By now the girl was in tears, thinking how unfair it was. Dr. Arden stepped forward, not even sure if he wanted to console her or slap her around the ears for being so emotional. But before he could do either, Rio stepped back and held up her hands.

“No, don’t…I am going to my little glee club and I am going to have fun teaching the people that showed up my little songs. Then we are going to have a sing-a-long and I hope the noise will drive you crazy!” Rio stated in a shrill voice and ran out of the office without awaiting Arthur’s answer.

When she arrived in the classroom, Kit Walker smiled at her. His encounter with Arden earlier had made him even more scared of this place, so any chance of focusing elsewhere was more than welcome. And it seemed more people shared this view. Shelly waved at her from the table she was sitting on and next to Kit stood Grace. There were more inmates, but Rio hadn’t met everybody yet. The only people that weren’t present, who Rio expected, were Oliver and Lana.

“So, what are we singing, can’t wait to start!” Kit said with a boyish smile and Rio couldn’t help but to smile back. The boy sure was charming. “what’s wrong, doll? Why ya crying?” He asked in that thick accent of his and Rio sniffled a bit.

“This place, its just unpleasant. I am sure you will all agree.” A lot of agreeing moans and whispers were heard. Two orderlies came in behind Rio and sat in the back of the room, on a few empty chairs. This was the deal that Rio had with Jude and Timothy. There would be two orderlies present that could jump in if any of the inmates would lose his or her cool. Once Timothy explained that this would be for her own safety, Rio finally agreed.

The room was set up like a classroom, a lot of chairs and tables but all of them set up in the back of the room so the front half of it would be open to stand. Rio explained the basics of their club, deep breaths, sing from your stomach and mostly just have fun. They weren’t going to win any prizes, this was just to keep them busy.

“Get to the song!” Shelly yelled with a giggle and she made Rio smile. “Alright, alright, gosh you are an impatient bunch. This is a song that wont be known for a few good years, but I happen to know the lyrics and I think it will be perfect to sing here.”

“Wont be known? How do you mean?” Grace asked and one of the orderlies got up, swinging his bat while keeping his eyes on Rio. The girl squinted at him but decided that in order to keep this club, she couldn’t tell people she was from the future anymore.

“Well, I was in this band, see? But I had to quit to come here. We agreed on releasing the songs in a certain order, but I wrote to the lead singer and he is fine with us practicing the songs here, as long as they don’t leak to the outside world.”

Grace nodded, although the explanation still sounded a little weird to her.

“Alright, first thing we need to do is see what we are working with here. I need to hear you sing and try to get you to sound good together.”

“Pepper sing!” Pepper cried out and made Rio smile. “You’re damn right you will sing!”

This earned her a glare from the orderlies, but a chuckle from the rest, so she added it up to the wins of that day. It took some effort, but Rio managed to direct the inmates so that they sounded good in unison. There was work to be done, of course, but this was a good start. On top of that, the group really looked like they were enjoying themselves. After a little while, the girl she met earlier appeared in the doorstep. Rio saw her and gave her a smile.

“Would you like to join us?”

“You want me to join? Me?” She seemed genuinely surprised, which broke Rio’s heart.

“Yeah, of course, everybody’s welcome. Right, guys?”

The group agreed happily and she stepped inside, still shy and on guard. Her voice wasn’t the most special one, or the nicest to listen to, but she was enjoying herself and that was the most important thing to Rio.

“Wrap it up, it’s time for prayer and then dinner.” A stern voice came from the door. Rio glared, she was promised two full hours, they still had 30 minutes to go.

“Sister Jude. How nice of you to join us.” She mumbled, sounding a lot less enthusiastic than earlier.

“Miss Taylor…time for prayer, then dinner.” Jude repeated and Rio rolled her eyes.

“Can’t we skip prayers? We are on such a roll, we could even let you hear what we have so far, I am sure you will love it.” Rio pleaded but the nun furrowed her brow.

“Miss Taylor, I believe you are already in trouble with the Monsignor, do you really want me to have to tell him that you want to skip prayer-time?”

Rio looked down and shook her head. No, she didn’t want that, her buttocks was still painful from the last time she was punished by those lunatics.

“That’s what I thought. So, prayers, wash up, dinner, prayer again and then an hour in the common room before we go to bed.” Jude summed up, as she clapped her hands. The inmates shuffled outside, some of them complimenting Rio on today’s class.

“But for you, miss Taylor, you will have your first class with the Monsignor after dinner, together with sister Mary-Eunice and Shelly, I believe.”

“I know, I know, don’t remind me.” Rio mumbled, wondering why Jude would remind her so often. Was it to make a fool out of her in front of the others? But when Rio looked at her, it dawned on her. Jude felt excluded. Mary-Eunice was invited but she wasn’t. For a moment, she wanted to reach out and tell her that she’d rather have her there, instead of Mary-Eunice, but the memory of the caning stopped her. Rio slipped past her and rushed over to her room, to wash up for dinner. She decided a shower would do her some good. After dinner, she knocked on the Monsignor’s office door and was let in by sister Mary-Eunice.

“Hello dear, ready to repent?” She asked her with a honey-sweet smile that made Rio raise a brow. The Monsignor sat at his desk, glaring at the both of them as if something was wrong already.

“What’s the matter, what did I do now?” Rio asked him, annoyed by the look on his face.

“It seems your friend did not show up, Shelly. It appears she has gone missing. Would you know anything about that, miss Taylor?” Mary-Eunice enquired, sitting in a chair nearby.

“N-No..I…I have no idea. I don’t remember seeing her at dinner.”

The nun just stared at her with a void look in her eyes, a small smirk playing around her hips. Neither of them suspected her of letting Shelly escape, offering her freedom for her silence in return. Part of her was afraid that the girl would be too loyal towards Rio to take the offer, but she didn’t hesitate even for a moment.

“Monsignor, I feel like miss Taylor is hiding something from us and needs to be…encouraged to speak the truth. Do you agree?” While she said this, the nun felt her body react to the situation. Her nipples got hard and were obviously visible in her black dress. Her folds moistened up as she thought of all the possibilities right here in this room.

“Yes, I agree, sister Mary-Eunice.” Timothy agreed as he got his bible out. He pointed at his desk. “Bend over and the only thing I want out of you is the truth. Every lie or objection will only give you more punishment.”

Rio bit her lip and shuffled over, bending over the desk reluctantly. Sister Mary-Eunice stood up and walked over, flipping over the blue dress that Rio was wearing. She hooked her fingers behind the fabric of the underwear she wore and pulled it down, ignoring the whimpers of shame and protest.

“Silence! You shall tell us where Shelly is and I want to hear only that!” Monsignor Howard yelled and started to read from his bible.

“Psalm 101:7, No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes!” He read out loud and as he did, sister Mary-Eunice started to spank Rio on her bottom. Not hard, but exactly right. Rio’s jaw dropped and lust-filled moans fell from her lips as she felt her body burn up under the touch.

“Well, looky here.” Sister Mary-Eunice murmured, gripping each cheek firmly before continuing her punishment. She glanced at the Monsignor and saw that the situation got him hot and bothered as well. He hooked a finger into his collar and adjusted it, swallowing hard as he started to pant.

The nun grabbed a handful of Rio’s hair and pulled her hair back, spanking her harder. One would expect Rio to protest but again the nun hit her exactly right to elicit another lustful response.

“Sister Mary-Eunice, this may not be the best way to get her to talk..” Timothy remarked, it being clear that he didn’t want to object too much.

“Oh, she will talk, Monsignor, just let me work my magic. You see, dirty girls only understand dirty things. So instead of punishing her, I am giving her exactly what she wants, before taking it away again when he most needs it. Be patient, you will be…satisfied in the end.”

With a giggle, the nun leaned over Rio and bit the skin of her neck, licking over the spot she just bit, causing Rio to moan out loud, still greatly confused.

“Alright, naughty girl, lay on your back on the desk and keep your eyes on the Monsignor, understand? And just tell him when you are ready to tell the truth.”

Rio was shaking on her legs by now, but managed to turn around and lay down on the wooden surface, her head facing the Monsignor, her lower body facing the nun. Her underwear slid off her legs, leaving her fully exposed. Sister Mary-Eunice kicked the small piece of fabric aside and knelt down, making a cross in the air, pretending to pray.

Next, she locked eyes with the Monsignor and stuck out her tongue, wiggling it between Rio’s folds. The girl gasped out loud and her body spasmed by the forced pleasure. Soon she moaned uncontrollably, lost in pleasure.

“Play with her nipples, father, she needs more stimulation.” Mary-Eunice instructed when she pulled back for a moment, grabbing the wooden crucifix from the desk. She stuck it in her mouth and sucked on it as Rio whimpered at the loss of her mouth.

“More, please, more..” She whispered and Timothy’s fingers found her breasts and started to rub the little nubs over the fabric of her dress. Rio’s whimpers turned into whines, she needed to orgasm now.

Once the wooden cross was slicked enough with saliva, the nun gently inserted the object in Rio, making the girl spasm even more.

“Sister, please, this isn’t…” Monsignor Howard started to object but the throbbing of his erection stopped any further protests. The nun just grinned at him as she used the tip of her tongue to tease the bundle of nerves between Rio’s folds.

“It’s for the greater good, father, by denying her what is most natural to her, she will open to you as she does to me. This is really sliding in there, right miss Taylor?” She asked innocently as she started to thrust the object in and out to her.

“More!” Rio demanded so the nun made sure to use her tongue on her again. Soon Rio moaned harder, her lower body practically humping the air for more friction. By now Monsignor Howard was ready to renounce his vows for two minutes inside of this woman.

Seconds away from her climax, sister Mary-Eunice stopped all activities and watched Rio squirm and whimper.

“No, please, more, I was so close, more!”

“The truth, miss Taylor, where did Shelly go?”

“I don’t know, please!” Rio cried out, close to tears. In a desperate attempt, she reached for her womanhood, to try and finish herself off, but the Monsignor grabbed both her wrists and pinned her arms down next to her head.

“Fess up, girl! Now!” He growled, trying desperately to try and ignore the painful urge to take her on the spot.

“I know nothing! Please let me come, please!” She cried out and sister Mary-Eunice teased the bundle of nerves between her folds with the crucifix.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a naughty girl…” She whispered and giggled gleefully when Rio started to cry in despair. “Please! I’ll do anything, just let me come! I know nothing!”

The nun got up and raised Rio’s dress, her free hand roaming over the naked skin. She squeezed a nipple as she used the wooden object to tease the other with, completely ignoring her womanhood now.

“I think you should restrain her to her bed so she doesn’t touch herself, father, during the night. We shall just have to repeat this again and again, each night after dinner, until she fesses up.” Mary-Eunice mused, bringing the wooden object up to her mouth. She inspected it for a moment before licking it clean. Again she locked gazes with the Monsignor, who leaned forward.

“Taste it…” The nun whispered and the man stuck out his tongue, lightly touching the wood. Once he had a taste, it was like he couldn’t be stopped. With grunts of want, he licked the wood and thereby also the tongue of sister Mary-Eunice. Their tongues intertwined with the object still between them as if it was the last sliver of goodness, protecting them from doing something impure. Rio looked up at them, tears of desperation running over her cheeks without any option to relieve herself.

“Or do you think we should have mercy? And let her hump herself to a peak on my leg? To show her we really do want the best?” The cruel an belittling tone made Rio blush a deep shade of red, mainly because she knew that she’d take the humiliation offer in a second.

“Well, to forgive is divine after all..” Timothy replied, his voice reduced to a needy whisper.

“There you are, you are allowed to hump yourself to a peak, like dog!” The nun told her, again in that belittling tone. Rio whimpered when the woman planted her leg between her legs and she felt the thick fabric of her dress tickle her bundle of nerves. She lifted her lower body and pressed her womanhood against the leg, moaning as she felt the pressure. While biting her lip she sped up her movements, gasping when Mary-Eunice played with her nipples some more.

Soon, a peak washed over the red-haired girl and the nun had to cover her mouth to keep her from making too much sounds. She stepped back and smirked as she saw the mess that Rio left on her dress.

“Off to bed, miss Taylor. Same time tomorrow, if you please.” Mary-Eunice stated as she pulled the girl up from the desk.

As Rio stumbled back to her room, still shaking by the impact, she knew that she had to involve Jude somehow. Sister Mary-Eunice….was something wrong with her. But part of her was also very curious to explore what that was.


	9. A skip and a hop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: the story will get more graphic from here.

“For the last time, miss Taylor, leave me be!” Dr. Thredson said in a raised voice and Rio frowned in utter confusion. “Why are you..” She started to ask him, but without giving the girl a chance to finish her sentence, the doctor talked over her. “No! I have other things on my mind at the moment, I have told you this over and over and you will simply not listen to me.”

“You didn’t say that at all, we haven’t spoken in ages.” Rio softly replied, eyeing him up and down. “We won’t speak anymore at all. I have other things I need to tend to. Now, if you will be so kind to leave me to my patient.” He retorted and gestured at the door. Kit Walker gave Rio a look of empathy, but didn’t meddle in their business. Rio knew that Oliver was here to determine if Kit was Bloody Face or not, but she expected a little more of him after all of his promises. It was obvious that helping her no longer served his own interest. Rio nodded and left his office, no longer objecting. Fine, she would deal with this herself.

When Rio wanted to turn to sister Jude for some comfort and solace in these difficult times, she found her out of her robes, all dolled up and ready to go out on the town.

“Sister Jude?” Rio asked her in a surprised tone and the nun sighed in annoyance. “You are not supposed to see me like this.” Rio crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the doorpost. “You are going for a drink, aren’t you? I guess you don’t want the others to know.”

“What do you want in return? Your freedom? Fine, run out the door, see if I care.” Jude said with a gesture towards the door and for a moment Rio hesitated. But no, what good would that do? If she left here, then how would Tony find her? “I don’t want my freedom, at least not my permanent freedom. I want to come with you.” This seemed to surprise the nun, but she shrugged. “Fine, follow me.” She led the girl to her car and drove the both of them to a bar near the institution. She ordered them a drink and shook her head.

“I renounced spirits. And look at me. I just can’t seem to catch him in the act, while I know she is not wrong. There is something wrong with him, he is hiding something!”

“Arden?” Rio asked Jude. “Yes. Arden. He has a hold over the Monsignor. There is something he is not telling me.”

“If it matters, I believe you. I’ve been avoiding him since Anne…since Charlotte accused him of being a nazi.”

“Why were you meeting with him in the first place, Rio?” Jude asked her and Rio noticed this was the first time the woman had used her first name.

“He promised to get me back to my own time if I agreed to tell him about the future, help him with his research. I know you don’t believe me, but…”

Jude laughed. “I have no reason not to believe you anymore. Why would you lie? Maye you are crazy, but what does it all matter? Tell me a little bit about yourself. I never gave you that chance before. It will distract me from my own failures.”

“Oh, I eh…” Rio murmured but cleared her throat after downing her drink, Jude doing the same. What did it all matter indeed? “I am a scientist in my own time, I work for Tony Stark. You’d know him if he lived in this time, he is kind of a big deal. He’s not just my boss, we are good friends as well. I’m good friends with his girlfriend as well. I grew up in New York with my parents and sister. But my dad left us when we were young and me and my sister no longer speak. She blames my mother for the divorce and I blame my father. So that kind of explains that..” Rio rambled and Jude frowned, now understanding why it had been painful for her to hear the story the Monsignor came up with to explain her presence to the other inmates.

“Men. Am I right?” Jude asked her before downing another drink and Rio laughed. “Yeah, bastards.” She agreed with a chuckle. There were many more drinks after that and to her surprise, Jude found a gentleman to spend the night with. Rio had no idea what to do with herself so she offered to just pass out in the car. In the morning, Jude drove them back to Briarcliff.

Both of them snuck in and bathed themselves and Jude was even able to change back into her robes before the Monsignor ordered the both of them to come to his office. The moment they stepped in they could see how furious he was.

“For heaven sake, what is that expression on your face, Timothy?” Jude asked him with a nervous chuckle. “It seems Briarcliff has become a burden for you.” The man stated, a glare in his eyes. He shot Rio a warning look, to make clear she was to wait her turn.

“No, no, we just had a few difficult days but..” Jude answered him but was cut off by him. “Sister, I’ve contacted father Bernard in Pittsburgh, he just opened a home for wayward girls. I recommended you highly, to run it. You lost your way. You need a new beginning. Your place leaves Friday.”

“This is all about doctor Arden, isn’t it?” The priest glared. “Doctor Arden is not the issue here!” But now Jude snapped at him. “Doctor Arden is entirely the issue here! He has turned you against me!”

Timothy scoffed. “Pack your things, sister. And you!” He growled as he turned towards Rio. “You are coming with me!” Without awaiting her answer, the Monsignor pulled Rio with him by her arm.

“What the hell are you doing, let me go!” Rio shouted and did her best to pull back. She did not try very hard, since her curiosity got the better of her as always.

“Going off with sister Jude, hmm? Meeting men behind my back? I will show you, missy. You were supposed to show up for our meeting and instead you went out!” He growled and threw Rio inside of an empty room, the only object inside being a chair. Not a normal chair, but one they used to restraint their patients. The chair was adjustable, so patients could sit upright, but also be forced to lay down. Timothy made her sit down and strapped her into the restraints. Then he ripped open her dress and got out his rosary beads. Rio was a panting, squirming mess by now.

“Did you give yourself away, hmm?” Timothy demanded to know and before Rio could even attempt to answer, he hit her across the body with his rosary, causing the girl to gasp. The wooden little circles left welts on her skin and hurt more than she expected. At the same time, it hurt in all the right ways and Rio bit her lip while enjoying the stinging feeling that remained once the pain subsided.

“Did you? Answer me!” The priest growled and hit her again, across her breasts this time. Rio arched her back to lean into the beads and grinned. “I told you that you would snap. What set it off? Sister Jude’s adventure? Or because you found out she was right about doctor Arden?”

Timothy grabbed her throat and squeezed it, bringing his face close to hers. “She is not right about doctor Arden.” He hissed, which only made Rio grin more. “Come on, take it out on me, you know you want to.”

The priest narrowed his eyes at the girl first but soon undid the straps on her legs, causing Rio’s excitement to deflate a little. But instead of undoing the straps on her arms, he hooked his arm under her legs and lifted them, exposing her backside to him. Rio blushed when she found herself in this position.

“Wha..what are you doing?”

Now Timothy was the one to grin at her.

“Taking it out on you.”

And he hit her with his rosary again, over the sensitive skin of her buttocks. Rio cried out in pleasure pain, but wasn’t given a moment of rest. He hit her again, and again and again.

“This. Institution. Is. Mine. Mine! Mine!” He yelled, emphasizing every word with a slap on her backside with the rosary. Rio suspected that he wasn’t talking about Briarcliff anymore at this point. Something inside of her snapped, let go of the last bit of decency that she had left inside of her. Remembering sister Jude’s words ‘what does it all matter?’

“Just fuck me already! It’s not like you don’t want to.” Rio egged him on and Timothy instantly dropped her legs, adjusting the chair so that the part that her legs rested on was lowered. Now he could stand between her legs without anything being in way, so that’s what he did, pushing her legs open.

“Wait..” Rio panted, again squirming in her seat. “Put them back first…the straps, on my feet. I want to be helpless when you fuck me. Please?” She begged him and with a growl, he obliged. Firs the ripped her panties off and stuffed them in her mouth, leaning down to put the straps back on her feet.

“Is this helpless enough for you? Are you dirty enough like this? Thrown at my mercy and even worse, begging me for it?” Timothy mused, showing much more patience than Rio would like all of a sudden. Her cheeks were a bright shade of red, very aware of the fabric that was stuffed into her mouth. She could smell her own scent on them and it made the want for pleasure even stronger. Once the straps were back on her feet, he came back up and pinched her nipples, rubbing the hardening nubs with his thumb once Rio squealed in pain.

“Look at you, so needy. What if I touch you here?” The Monsignor murmured and dipped a finger between her folds, wiggling it a bit. Rio was close to crying in desperation now and she lifted her lower body, attempting to ride that finger to a peak. Timothy just laughed and yanked the torn fabric from the girls mouth. “Beg me. Tell me you want me. Tell me you need me, crave me.” He ordered her and Rio whimpered in need. “Please…please..I-I want you to fuck me, I need you, I crave you, please.” The girl babbled and did her best to spread her legs for him, despite her restraints. The Monsignor brought his finger up and licked it, taking in her taste.

Once he did, there was a change in him. It was as if tasting her straight from the source was the last push he needed and so he opened his trousers and exposed himself to her. She only had a few moments to revel in it, as he positioned himself in front of her and thrusted himself inside. It felt like a revelation, an epiphany even, to finally feel the man inside of her she had been lusting after for weeks. He wasted no time and thrusted in and out at a rapid pace without giving her any time to adjust to his size.

“I am a man of god! You are taking my purity, you heathen witch!” He yelled at her and pushed her legs even further apart, bruising her inner thighs with his pace and force. “And you fucking love it, don’t ya? Fuck me, take me!” Rio cried out and felt her walls tighten up around his punishing cock in an incredible intense orgasm. As Timothy felt this, it sent him right over the edge as well and with a final strangled moan, he spilled himself inside of the girl. He collapsed on top of her, laying on her chest as he panted to calm himself down again. Rio just laid there, basking in the pleasure she had waited on for so long already and loving how badly her body stung. With a whimper, the Monsignor caught a nipple in his mouth and started to assault it with his teeth and tongue. Rio squirmed, trashed and whimpered, since the pleasure both felt good and drove her crazy. His fingers found that bundle of nerves between her folds and began to tease it until the girl peaked again, weakly twitching underneath him as her walls tightened up around his cock again.

“You do not even try to resist, dirty girl.” He chastised her and Rio laughed weakly. “Oh, just stop it already, drop the act. You’ve been wanting to do this since I came here. I know I have. Let’s get cleaned up, get something to drink, hm?” She asked with a hoarse voice but the Monsignor just smirked at her, grabbing her face. He brought his own close and licked over her lips. “You think we are done. But there is more I need to take out on you. You’re going to be here for a while.”

Timothy was a man of his word, that much Rio had to admit. She had no idea how long he had kept her in that little room, but it time stopped existing at some point. He played with her body until he found himself erect once more and managed to make her beg for him over and over. After his lust and rage finally died down, he had released her from her restraints and took off without another word.

“How am I supposed to leave?” Rio asked herself exasperated, when she looked at her torn dress. He had left here without any other form of clothing. Not very gentleman-like. The moment she decided to just run out to the hallway, towards her room, a bed was brought in. Sister Mary Eunice was the one pushing it inside, around the chair that Rio had been on moments earlier.

“Well, miss Taylor, look at you. All messed up. Finally found someone willing to dirty themselves on you? Who was the lucky bastard?” She asked her in the belittling tone she loved to use but her face fell when she stared at the girl. She knew. She knew Rio and the Monsignor finally caved on each other. And she did not like it. Rio swallowed hard and looked at the person in the bed.

“Lana…what is Lana doing here? What’s going on?” She asked the nun. “Miss Winters escaped and found herself in a very nasty car crash. Luckily she was found and brought back.” Mary Eunice told her and tended to the woman in the bed once she had woken up. Lana jumped out of bed. “Doctor Thredson! He is a murderer! He kidnapped me and he killed Wendy, he is Bloody Face!” She told the nun and Rio and Rio felt her blood run cold.

Was the man she kissed and clung to really a serial killer?


	10. Those Christmas nights

“Miss Taylor, go to your room. Immediately.” Sister Mary Eunice instructed her and Rio did as she was told, after seeing the look in the nun’s eyes. Once inside her own bed, she realized how tired she was and fell right asleep. Some time passed and Christmas came.

On Christmas morning, Rio found sister Mary Eunice decorating their common room. A large Christmas tree, filled with personal belongings of the inmates. Rio saw the Monsignor approach her and walked over to a man in a Santa suit, so she could watch them while sitting with him. Timothy had avoided her since their outburst, cancelling the appointments they had with sister Mary Eunice again and again.

“Why don’t you come and sit on my lap, girlie?” The man in the Santa suit asked her with a dirty grin. Rio nodded and crawled in his lap, she no longer cared. She needed touch, any touch. She would have expected her adventure with Timothy to sate her desires, but they were far worse now.

She could see the Monsignor obviously praising the nun, glancing in their direction a moment or two while he did. And she noticed the envy in the eyes of the nun, envy because Rio got there first. Not that it had been a race to Rio, she just followed her instincts. What else was she going to do?

“What do you say, we blow this pop stand, go savage a few elves and then suck on each other, hmm?” The Santa Clause asked Rio and she got up with a frown, hearing that Timothy and Mary Eunice referred to him as ‘Leigh Emerson’. She asked him to stay for their party, but the man declined.

"Oh no, sister, like the mythical jolly old elf, I, too, have more than one visit on this festive night. But I am happy and grateful to leave Briarcliff in your capable hands." He said as he grabbed her hands for a moment. Rio scoffed and made a vomiting noise. “Miss Taylor, is there anything you’d like to add? Or would you prefer to spend Christmas locked in your room?” Timothy asked her in a harsh voice and Rio narrowed her eyes at him. This was the second person in this place to tug at her heartstrings and then drop her as if she were garbage. “I’d rather spend it locked in yours.” She said out loud, in a husky voice and then walked away from them.

The Monsignor was about to follow her, to reprimand her for speaking to him in such a manner, but they were all distracted by Frank falling from the ladder and Leigh trying to attack several of the orderlies. Luckily he was restrained and brought to a cell. While Mary Eunice concocted a plan to get back at Jude with dr. Arden, Timothy dragged Rio out of the common room and into his office.

“What is the matter with you! You do not speak to me in such a manner! Especially not while the others can hear!” He rumbled once he slammed the door behind them. Rio sighed and shook her head. "I can’t believe you. You use me like that and then abandon me? I thought..”

“You thought what? That we were going to be a couple in love? Play footsie during church sermons?” He yelled at her, eyes sparked with anger and frustration. “Like you said, this was a long time coming, we were weak and now we can move on, that’s it!” Rio’s eyes filled with tears, but she turned away from him so he wasn’t able to see.

“I trust that we won’t have to have this talk again. Stay out of my way, stay out of everybody’s way so you don’t cause trouble. You’ve been enough trouble as it is.” The man stated calmly, giving her a look of disgust, even though she could not see it.

“Then why? Why did you care so much when I went out with Jude?” Rio asked him a broken voice. “I did not care at all. Other matters had my attention and frustrated me. You were…convenient.”

Rio turned around and slapped him across the face. When he looked back at her, he let out a bitter laugh. The look he gave her was a pitying one, a mixture of disgust and sympathy. As if she was a fish on dry land, desperately trying to stay alive.

“Rio, please. Did you honestly think this would have worked out? I trust I can count on your discretion. Now get out.” He spat, staring at her intently from behind his desk, the smoke from his freshly lit cigarette twirling around him. The girl breathed in deep, trying to push the hurt away. With a final nod, she turned around and left the office. She didn’t see the utterly crushed and defeated look on the face of the holy man, nor did she know that he had intentionally broke her heart, to keep her at bay. There was guilt, so much guilt, over what they shared. He was a man of the church, how could he justify this to himself?

Overcome with questions, Rio ran through the hallways and heard sister Jude call out for help from inside her office. She ran to the door and wanted to open it up, but was stopped by doctor Arden. “Look, a rat. What do we do with rats, sister?” He asked the nun, appearing behind him. “We dispose of them.” The nun answered him with a void look in her eyes. Without another word, doctor Arden dragged her away from the office. Along the way, they ran into Oliver Thredson. He smiled eerily at Rio and then looked at doctor Arden, holding her arm firmly.

“Doctor Arden? I can’t imagine miss Taylor doing anything to deserve this treatment?” Doctor Arden seemed a little taken back, not knowing what he was supposed to say. “Miss Taylor was in the way, as she mostly is.” He tried to convince them and Rio pulled her arm away from his grip. “Fuck you.” She spat at him. His jaw dropped, as did that of Oliver. “I’m so sick of men telling me I am in the way. I am leaving this asylum, I won’t be in anybody’s way anymore!”

Neither of them objected, for their own reasons. Oliver was on his way to see Lana, to secure her silence. Arthur was securing his loyalty towards the possessed sister Mary Eunice. Rio scoffed. “That’s what I thought. Who gives a damn, right?”

The girl started to run, tears streaming down her face as she thought of her options. If she left, Tony would never find her. Even if he would be able to come here, nobody would know where Rio had run off to…but staying was no option, it was hurt, pain, suffering.

Rio walked past the little chapel and heard the splashing of water, accompanied by grunts of panic and despair. Without hesitating for a moment, the girl ran inside and found Leigh Emerson holding the Monsignor under water. Obviously Timothy had attempted to give him a baptism and failed miserably.

Before the girl could cry out for help, he had thrown himself at her, quickly knocking her unconscious. A faint scream woke the girl for a few moments, but only for that. Soon she fainted again and woke up properly in the hospital wing. With a groan, Rio sat up and felt that her stomach turned unto a knot when she laid eyes on the bed next to her.

“Timothy! Are you alright?” She called out, not even taking into account that the man had been asleep. His eyes twitched and he let out some vowel sounds before fluttering his eyes back open. “Rio…Jude…was right…Leigh…” Rio nodded, tears springing to her eyes. “Yeah, he attacked me too, I…” Her words fell silent when she saw his hands. There were completely covered in bandages and it gave Rio an idea of what Leigh had done to the Monsignor in the chapel. Quickly she scrambled to her feet and sat on her knees next to his bed, gently cupping a bandaged hand in her own.

“I’m so glad I found you in time, who knows what would have happened!” She said as the tears poured down her face now. “Silly girl, why do you cry over me?” He asked her weakly, lifting his free hand to gently caress her cheek. “You know why..” Rio said in a broken voice and leaned forward.

“I know why.” A stern voice called out and Rio gasped, jumping to her feet when she heard sister Mary Eunice speak to them like that. “Do you want me to enlighten you both, father Howard? Or would that be stating the obvious?” She went on, in an innocent voice, as she walked towards them. When neither of them answered, she grinned.

“Yes, stating the obvious, that wouldn’t do much good, would it? No, we need to solve a thing or two here. I need to secure my future. And yours, Timothy. On top of that, we need miss Taylor out of way, don’t we? Secure she doesn’t have a future, if you will.” Mary Eunice stated and chuckled when she saw their surprised faces. “Oh come now, we all know what happened during that exorcism. And we all benefited from it. Remember?” Her voice turned husky and both Rio and the Monsignor avoided their gaze, their eyes filled with shame.

“But three’s a crowd. I no longer need you spoiling my plans, Rio. So I am going to give our dear friend here a choice.” She explained, nodding in Timothy’s direction. “You can either join my side, Monsignor, so we can rule this institution together or I rule it alone, kill you and send miss Taylor off for an appointment of electric shock therapy.”

Rio let out a sound of utter shock and the nun rolled her eyes. “Don’t be dramatic, it won’t kill you. It will just erase your mind. So if your dear imaginary Tony will come for you, you won’t be able to recognize him. And that, my dear, will be reason enough for us to keep him here as well.”

“What if he agrees with you, what will happen to me then?” Rio asked her, taking deep breaths to try and keep herself calm.

“Well, then we’d just send you away, my dear. To a school for wayward girls. Where you can be spanked over and over, sexually assaulted even. Isn’t that your big turn on?”

“N-No.”

Sister Mary Eunice turned her head to see where the rejection came from and Timothy sat up to speak more clearly. “No. You will not hurt her. I will not stand for it.”

The nun laughed. A very unpleasant sound to Rio. “You will not stand at all, Timothy! Look at yourself! Do you really think you are in any position to go against me? You can take your pick, I either have her little mind erased or send her off to some other devious asylum where she can get all those dirty fantasies fulfilled. It doesn’t matter to her who gives her a beating, as long as it happens! And you, my dear boy, can fulfil your dirty fantasies with me…”

As she spoke, she moved to the bed and straddled the man, grinding her crotch onto his. The man moaned and tried to push her off. With a cackle, Mary Eunice used her powers to pin his arms above his head. When Rio tried to pull her off, she bared her teeth at the girl. She instantly flew against the wall next to them, so she had a good view of what was going on.

“Do you want to watch me fuck him?” The nun asked her, grinding on the man even harder. “N-No..” Rio whimpered sadly. “Then do as I say, give in to my wishes. There is an orderly right outside the door. He is here to either take you to that school or have your mind erased, take your pick. But know this, girl. I will have him either way. The only choice you have here is if you stay to watch. I will give you 10 seconds. If you do not choose to go to that other institution, you will watch me fuck the good out of him and then you will fry.”

This no longer resembled the shy, frightful nun Rio had come to know and care for, all the kindness disappeared from her face and only hate and determination were left.

“If you do anything to her, I will never obey you.” Timothy spoke up, between his panting and moaning. "I will keep disobeying or even end my own life if I have to, just so you can’t hide behind me anymore. You picked a body, but a wrong one, didn’t you? If only you had picked a man…” The priest mused underneath Mary Eunice and chuckled miserably. Rio was touched by how much he was willing to sacrifice for her safety.

“RIO!!! Rio!!! Where are you?!! Get over here! We just have 30 seconds left!” She heard a very familiar voice scream out and her jaw dropped. “Tony! It’s Tony!” The girl whimpered and felt herself in utter confusion. Would she go back? Without Timothy? Would she be able to? If Mary Eunice would allow her back to her own time, she’d have Timothy all to herself and all her problems would be solved. Or would she want to be cruel and keep both her and Tony here?

That last question was quickly answered when Rio felt herself fall to the floor, no longer under the influence of Mary Eunice’s hold. The nun called in the orderly that had been waiting outside the door.

“Bill! Come in! Take miss Taylor to the surgery room, for her dose of electricity! And that madman that is calling out for her, restrain him and give him a room! I will deal with him later.”

At this point, both Rio and the Monsignor started to object, but to no avail. The orderly Bill was stronger than Rio and dragged her out of the room, completely ignoring the fact that one of the nuns was straddling a priest.

“No, stop!” Rio cried out, desperately trying to get away. “Don’t take him from me, please! Let me remember him!” She wasn’t even sure what nonsense she was babbling at this point, all she knew was that Timothy meant a great deal to her.

“Rio!” Tony called out the moment he laid eyes on her, firing a blaster gun at the orderly that was holding her. Rio kept her head down but was knocked out by the blow anyway. “Aw, come on, Dexter, don’t do this to me!” Tony called out desperately and shot forward to drag Rio’s body back towards the door he came through. “Clock’s ticking!” He groaned as he realized the worm hole would only be open a few more seconds. Something tripped him over and it took every sliver of will power for Tony Stark to crawl towards the now closing wormhole.

Sister Mary Eunice rode the Monsignor while all of this chaos occurred, grinning in satisfaction that she had finally found her way into his bed. He was a good looking man, after all, there were worse ways to reach the top. She was sure she would could convince him to take her side this way, now that Rio was out of the picture. With a strangled moan, the man spilled herself inside of the sister as a bright light filled the room, accompanied by a loud crackling noise.

“That bitch! She is escaping!” The nun growled and jumped from the bed, running out of the room, leaving Timothy sobbing on the bed. What had he done? What had become of him? The woman he cared for just jumped out of his life and he let the woman ruining his life rape him.

When Mary Eunice saw the broom closet that Rio initially rolled out of, the nun knew that she was too late. It was filled with smoke and several items had rolled out, on fire. She hesitated a few moments, wondering what she was going to do. She could return to Timothy, force him to lead the both of them on a path of success, but she knew deep inside that he wouldn’t go for it. She didn’t see his future. His life here would probably end soon. Or worse, he would end hers. The nun ran down the stairs as fast as she could and out of the front door of the asylum, cackling as loud as she could.


	11. Revelations

There was a flash, a scream and a cry for help but Rio didn’t hear or see any of it. When she opened her eyes, there was a bright light and the sound of blurred voices filled her ears, pushing her towards the brink of madness.

“Is she alright? Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just give us some space..you’re alright, right Rio?”

“We need to call a doctor, to see if you..”

At that moment, Rio started to scream at the top of her lungs, trying to jump up to escape. Pepper and Tony had to hold her down.

“Jesus, Pep, hold her! Rio, calm down! You hear me? Calm down! We won’t call a doctor, okay? Hey, look at me!”

By now Rio stopped screaming, she just sobbed, her eyes squeezed up and her hands balled up into fists.

“Tony, she is having an anxiety attack, a big one, someone needs to come and check on her.”

Tony blinked rapidly, doing his best to hold his dear friend, patting her back to calm her down. He had no idea what to do. She was obviously not up for an examination by a doctor. No wonder, figuring the place he found her.

“Where is he, where is he…I love him..” Rio whimpered sadly and Tony sighed deeply. Pepper frowned, Tony’s face betrayed that he felt guilty. He probably thought that he pulled Rio out of that time while she wanted to stay.

“Tony? Look at her.”

Pepper told her significant other and he did. He saw the bruises on her arms, from being dragged away by the orderly earlier, he saw how skinny she had become, how dark the circles under her eyes were.

“Tony, whatever you pulled her out of, it was the right thing to do. We need to get her to bed.”

“Yeah, yeah, lets do that. The guest room.” Tony murmured and together, they were able to put the crying girl to bed.

“It was an asylum..some sort of..nuthouse..” Tony mumbled once he and Pepper returned to their living room. Pepper gave him a horrified look. “I was only there for a few moments, but…it was…horrible. They were dragging her off to get shock treatment.”

“No wonder she is in this state..” Pepper said breathlessly.

It was one big blur to the girl, she could no longer determine where she was, or with who. Through the night, she screamed as she woke up from horrible nightmares, screamed even harder when she realized that she was no longer in the asylum and when Pepper and Tony finally decided it was enough and called a doctor, they thought Rio would never return to normal. As she shouted her head off, trying to fight the man that wanted to investigate her, Tony’s look turned blank as he and Pepper held her down. This was all his fault, he had built a faulty take worm hole, one that would only sustain for 60 seconds. It took him too long to orientate himself, to determine what would have been the wisest and best choice for Rio.

 

The doctor gave her a mild sedative that would at least allow Rio to get some sleep. Pepper and Tony returned to their own bedroom and Pepper heard a sob come from Tony. She turned to him with a shocked look.

“Tony, what is the matter? You got her out, none of this is your fault!”

The man looked up, his eyes filled with tears and self-loathing. “This is my fault, Pepper. You see, I wasn’t here when she was tinkering with the machine. I was on one of my crazy ideas, going to the horse races in the middle of the day, instead of doing what I should. Then I took too long determining where she was. Then I got distracted, with the whole New York invasion and dealing with the Mandarin…I should have…I..”

Pepper sighed. “You should have what?” She asked him as she sat with him. “You should have let New York and the other Avengers burn? You should not have stopped the Mandarin? Rio knew not to go near that machine without you there, she didn’t listen. JARVIS did his best trying to find her, things got in the way. It’s nobody’s fault, it’s an unfortunate turn of events. She is back now.”

“Look at her! Look at her, Pepper! She is traumatized! Who knows what they did to her in there! And she fell in love, she was screaming about wanting to remember someone, About loving him. That didn’t sound fake to me. Now she’ll never see this guy again, all because I couldn’t build her a better worm hole.”

“Go to sleep, Tony. Just go to sleep.” Pepper stated, sounding tired and irritated. An hour later, his girl was asleep, but the scientist was still wide awake himself. He had to make this right. He had to do something. He crawled out of bed without waking Pepper up and slipped inside of Rio’s room. He sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand in his own as gentle as he could.

“Timothy…please…no…” Rio murmured in her sleep. “Father…please..” She went on and Tony couldn’t help but to let out a bitter chuckle. “A priest, Rio? Really? Fine, I will get you your priest. I promise you that. Cross my heart.” He whispered and kissed her forehead before leaving the room again. When she heard the door close, Rio sat up in bed. “What?” She asked, still drunk from her deep sleep, but there was no answer.

In the morning, Pepper was beside herself, storming into the bedroom of the red-haired girl. “Rio! Rio! Wake up, please! Did Tony come to you last night?”

Rio groaned, her head feeling like it had been hit with several hammers over and over. “Tony? No..I..maybe…why do you ask?” Pepper wiped away the tears from her face. “He’s gone. I think..I think he went back to that place…where you were…” Rio was wide awake now and jumped out of bed, her stomach twisting into a giant knot.

“How could he do that, that stupid, stubborn…” She grumbled as she put on a robe and ran into the living room. “JARVIS?” The system responded immediately. “Yes, miss Taylor?” The way he spoke to her, made her blood run cold and she felt out of place. As if she wasn’t really in the room. The world around her began to spin and she sank to her knees. “Miss Potts, your assistance, please.” The system called out to Pepper who was already on the phone with the medical help.

Meanwhile, in Briarcliff, the asylum was shook up once again, by a stranger rolling out of the broom closet across from the Monsignor’s office. He got up, taking a few deep breaths as he realized that he had succeeded. He was in the same place as the night before, although his physical condition was terrible by now. Time travel was something that weakened a person greatly, especially if they were unstable to begin with and Tony now was making his third trip in two days.

“Sir, sir? Are you alright, what are you doing here?” A nun came to ask the scientist and he frowned at her, still breathing heavily. “I am looking for…him…please..help me.” The nun nodded. “I understand. Come with me.” She said kindly and lead him to an empty room, pointing at the bed. “Lay down, relax. We will be right with you.”

Tony nodded, shaking and sweating, not understanding yet that he willingly walked into the cruel ways of the asylum. Once the nun returned, there were two orderlies and a nurse with her, to restrain the man and sedate him. When Tony woke up, he was tied to a bed and in a nightgown. The orderlies that came earlier came in again and the nun followed close behind. “We are going to take you to the common room, where you can socialize with the other patients, alright? But only if you can keep your cool.”

“Cool as ice.” Tony told them in a hoarse voice, understanding his mistake now. He told them he was looking for ‘him’. What else could they have thought of him than being a patient.

In the present time, Pepper and Rio were functional again. Pepper had been able to wake Rio up before the medical staff arrived and the girl had refused to see any of them, assuring the woman that she was in good health. Now they were trying to work with JARVIS to open the wormhole up once again, to get Tony back.

“Rio,” The system addressed her, understanding he was never to call her ‘miss Taylor’ again, “You do need to realize your weakened state, it can be dangerous to go back to Briarcliff.” Pepper cleared her throat. “JARVIS? We talked about this, I will go instead.” Both Rio and JARVIS objected.

“It’s highly unlikely that…”

“No, I know my way there, you don’t..”

Pepper just held up her hands. “I’m going. You can’t, JARVIS isn’t able to and I love him. It’s settled.”

“So. You’re the man in charge? The big kahuna?” Tony asked Timothy as he accepted the glass of scotch the man offered him. “I am, yes. And you are?” Tony grinned, throwing the drink back entirely before answering. “I’m the answer to all your problems. I noticed how that reporter was on your case back there. Asking about cover ups, patients being treated poorly. And I have to say, it doesn’t look good for you, buddy.”

“I don’t normally allow anyone to..”

“I know, I know, but I bet you don’t normally sleep with your patients either.”

A horrified look came over the holy man as he stared at this stranger. He had a good mind of bricking up that broom closet for good, so he would be done with all this sass already.

“Oh yeah, I know. See, Rio… she is a very good friend of mine.”

“You are Tony.”

“Yeah, Tony Stark. Nice to meet ya. I am going to skip the pleasantries, father. Hope you don’t mind. See, she is quite sweet on you. So I am taking you back there. Pack up, let’s go.”

The Monsignor laughed and shook his head, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It couldn’t be real. Even if it was…the future scared him. How would he adjust? What would he do for a living? What if Rio did not forgive him?

“Mister Stark, kindly leave my office and go back to…wherever you came from.”

Tony blinked a few times. “Excuse me, what? I travelled 50 years, several times in the last few days and you send me on my merry way? That girl is pining for ya, man!”

“That girl does not pine! She seduces, she taunts, she takes what she wants and moves on!” The priest growled, slamming his desk and bringing his face close to that of Tony. “She will be far better off without me, trust me on that.”

Tony tilted his head and looked at the man a few moments longer. “I see. I’ll give her that message. Oh and eh…that reporter? She is going to tear this place apart. I’ve read a lot about this place while Rio was here. This is not going to end well, for anyone, I might add.” He told the priest with a wink and stood up. Without turning back to the man behind the desk, Tony walked into the broom closet and used the machine he used the first time to get back to his own time, a miniature version of the time machine he built with Rio.

Captain America shook his head with a sigh once Pepper finished explaining. “So Tony went back in time, after rescuing Rio here from an asylum, to go and pull somebody out of there. And we are the rescue mission? Can’t he find his own way back?”

Rio looked from one Avenger to the other, a scared look on her face. Pepper looked even worse, pale and shaking. “Yes, Steve, that’s correct, now why are we wasting time?”

“This is not what the Avengers are for, we are not some gang of time travelling vigilantes that can meddle with time.” Steve answered to that question, frowning as he tried to wrap his head around the entire idea.

“Capsicle against time travel? I never thought I’d see the day.” They heard Tony’s voice from the doorway and Pepper let out a cry of despair and relief before running over to him, hugging him tight. Tony let out an ‘oomph’ but did his best to hug her back. He was sweating and shaking, dark circles underneath his eyes, but other than that he was well.

“Oh Tony…oh my god…” Rio murmured and went to join the hug. Tony rolled his eyes and gave Steve a fake exasperated look. “Can you believe this? They’re all girlpower and women on top, but just wait till the man is no longer home.” Rio pulled back with a pout and punched his shoulder.

“Couch, please…now..” Tony murmured as he grabbed his head, an upcoming migraine making it hard to stand. Pepper and Rio brought him to the couch and made him lie down, as Steve went to get him a cold compress. He came back and gave it to Pepper, who dabbed his forehead with it.

“Did you find him?” She asked him with hope in her voice. Tony’s face said it all.

“I did. He…he didn’t want to come. I’m so sorry, Rio.”

Rio got up and ran from the room, locking herself in the guest room where she could process this in peace.

“Tony, please explain this to me?”

“Sure, Capsicle.” Tony grunted as he did his best to sit up a bit. “See, Rio there, she works for me. We built a time machine and she worked on it while I wasn’t here. Something was triggered and she was teleported back in time, into an asylum. Briarcliff. Maybe you heard of it.” Steve Rogers shook his head, too baffled to object or speak at all for that matter. Tony went on. “That asylum was run by the church, so instead of people getting treatment, they got punished. Bad meds, bad treatment, traumatizing them in general. Now Rio didn’t exactly fit in, so I assume she gave them all some trouble, earned herself a punishment here or there. I think she fell in love with this priest. I went back there to try and get him to come back with me. He said no. Even told him that the place would go to shit, it didn’t help.”

After giving Tony the ‘language’-look, Steve shook his head. “Tony, the both of you messed with the timelines, this could mean trouble. I think. I am not sure how it works but…” Tony snorted. “Don’t worry, Rogers. I got it. I just needed to make it right.”

Pepper went through Tony’s hair.

“Tony, that was so kind…but Rio is going to have to learn to live without him. In time, she’ll get over it.”


	12. Mercy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has been one hell of a ride. Please let me know what you think.

“Rio, are you coming with us? We are going to the karaoke bar. You love karaoke. Tony hates it. It’ll be fun.” Behind Pepper, Tony rolled his eyes, completely offended that he was being forced to join them.

“No.”

“She doesn’t want to go, let’s call it off.” Tony tried to convince Pepper but the woman shot him a look that shut him up. Pepper knocked on Rio’s door again. It was hard for the girl to be alone after what happened, it shook her up more than they initially thought. She was subletting her apartment and moved in with Tony and Pepper for the time being.

“Rio, you can’t stay in there forever. You need a night out.”

Rio opened the door to face Pepper and the young woman was shocked to see the state the girl was in. Her eyes were red from crying and she was still as pale as when she first returned. It had been weeks. No sign of Timothy, no word whatsoever. Tony was still recovering from going back and forth between the wormholes and it was clear to Rio that he was avoiding spending time alone with her. Or time with her in general. It was probably guilt, or he was mad at her for putting him through all that with Pepper.

“Will that stop you from banging on my door like a crazy person?” She asked Pepper in a hoarse voice and she shrugged a bit, stuttering some form of agreement.

“’Kay, gimme an hour.”

Pepper nodded and returned to the living room with Tony, to wait for Rio. “Sir?” JARVIS asked him, seeming a little distraught. “Yeah, JARVIS? You wanna see me do karaoke? Apparently it’s mandatory nowadays…” Tony murmured, glancing at Pepper. “Sir, miss Taylor’s state is not improving. I fear that this is beyond any form of normal heartache, based on the information you have provided me with.” Pepper tilted her head in confusion. “You gave JARVIS information on broken hearts?” Tony nodded. “So he would understand Rio better.”

“This isn’t something that’s understood. This is something that…needs time. To heal.”

“Time? Is that what I need? I thought I had enough of it by now.”

A voice behind them was heard and Pepper got up when she saw Rio standing there, her hair still wet from the shower, in just her nightgown.

“Sweetie, I didn’t mean…I..”

“Forget it. He used me. He never loved me. And I was stupid enough to fall in love twice there. I got hurt twice. Should have learned my lesson with Shelly and I didn’t.”

“I’m sure he knows he made a mistake.” Pepper tried to console her but Rio shrugged. “It doesn’t matter if he does or not. I’ll never see him again. I’ll…get dressed.”

The girl shuffled out of the room again and went to dry her hair and put something decent on to go out in. She chose a leather pair of pants, a green top and a gold necklace, a pair of heels underneath to complete her look. After putting some make up on herself, she returned to Tony and Pepper.

“Looking to score out there, Dexter?” He asked her, doing his best to sound casual, even using her nickname for the first time since her return.

“So you can take him away from me again?” Rio asked him coldly.

The temperature in the room dropped immensely as Tony averted his gaze and Pepper stepped closer to them, without knowing what to do or say.

“Miss Taylor, may I point out that…” JARVIS started, in Tony’s defence. “STOP IT!” Rio suddenly shrieked, holding her head as if she was in pain. The looks that her employers, her friends, gave her now made Rio want to run and hide. A mixture of fear and pity. Almost the same look as the Monsignor gave her during one of their final moments.

“Stop it…just…stop it…” Rio now murmured, more to herself than to the others. “Don’t call me that…he called me that…you were going to get him. Why did you take no for an answer, why?!” She suddenly yelled at Tony.

“Rio, Tony tried, it’s not fair to..”

“Oh, of course it’s not fair! Poor Tony, always the victim!” Rio shot back, when Pepper tried to defend her lover. “Always saving the day and somehow leaving everyone in his wake! Do I need to bring up Ultron?”

Tony got up from where he sat and paced back and forth. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Rio.” He mumbled.

“Yes, I do!” She shouted. “You went back to get him for me and came back without him, only pretending you did it for me. You didn’t do it for me, you did it for you! So everybody can pat you on the back, saying what a good guy you are! Well, you’re not, I loved him and…”

“And he didn’t love you! That’s why he didn’t come back, alright? And I expected you to carry that knowledge with a little bit more dignity!” Tony told her off in a raised voice, causing Rio to cry.

“Oh now come the tears, huh? You know what, maybe Pepper and I should have you committed, so you can fuck someone in a madhouse again! Would that help? Since your family won’t care enough!”

Rio’s head snapped in his direction and Tony knew he had gone too far. He extended a shaking hand in her direction, as if she was holding a gun on him and Pepper. “R-Rio…please..”

“You’re right. My family doesn’t care. You’re right, I fucked a priest. Convinced myself he’d leave the church for a heretic like me. Sounds like I really do belong in the nuthouse, don’t it?” She asked him in an unsteady voice and turned around, making her way to the lab.

“Tony, stop her! She’s going back!” Pepper told him in a shrill voice, making Tony sigh exasperated. “I know, Pep! JARVIS!”

“Sir, my system seems to be malfunctioning.” JARVIS answered him, when Tony obviously meant that he should have shut the doors to the lab. Since he was unable to close the doors, Rio easily made her way down there again. She flipped a few switches and that familiar cracking noise but it sounded sharper, harsher, as if there was something wrong. They all heard the terrible static as well and sparks of electricity flew from the sockets.

“Rio, don’t even think of using that machine now, who knows where you’ll end up!” Tony shouted as a warning, but Rio didn’t seem to care.

“I don’t care! Anywhere is better than here, I can see I’m too much for you and Pepper! I can see how you pity me! How you hate me! I am empty, I am tired! I am done! I need to go back there and..”

With a last flip of the switches, the machine’s door opened up and a large flash filled the room. The power went out as Rio was thrown across the room by the impact of the blow.

Tony ran towards his desk and got the flashlight out that he hid there, Pepper following close behind. The both of them made their way to Rio, who was moaning softly in pain.

Tony shone the light of the flashlight on her, to see if she was hurt but found only a few bruises. The girl did hit her head against the wall and was a bit loopy, but from what he could judge, there was no severe damage.

“She’s alright, she’s alright.” He said out loud, to convince all of them, but Rio didn’t seem alright. She cried softly and Tony took her in his arms to console her. JARVIS powered up the back-up generator, so a few little lights in the lab went back on.

“It seems to me…like she could use a little light from our lord.” A voice said and as our trio looked up, they saw a dark-haired man, dressed a priest, standing in Tony Stark’s laboratory.

“That’s..that’s…” Pepper said, out of breath and Tony could just nod and stammer. Rio got up, her body shaking in fear that this was an illusion, a cruel prank. She was asleep, what else could this be? But her eyebrow started to sting and a liquid trickled down her face, so she couldn’t be asleep.

“Rio…will you…will you forgive me? Will you have me?” The man asked her in a shaky voice, unable to look the girl in the eyes.

“Tony went to get you, you said no. When I was in your office…you said..”

He held up his hand, shaking his head as he squeezed his eyes shut. “I know, I know, I’ve been a fool. I wanted to break your heart so you’d go on. Live your life. I knew, despite Jude’s claims, that you spoke the truth. That your lover would come for you. I couldn’t be in the way.”

Rio blinked rapidly. “Tony isn’t my lover, I told you that. We work here. That’s his girlfriend, Pepper.” Rio pointed out as she nodded in Pepper’s direction. “He’s handsome.” Pepper whispered. “No, he’s not.” Tony remarked, not wanting to know he no longer was the only hunk in the room.

“You found it, didn’t you?” Tony asked him, getting his phone out, to show Rio a line of messages. Rio stared at it and saw that Tony texted her phone. “My phone! But…Arden took it! It..it was still in Briarcliff..” Tony smiled weakly. “I came to collect our holy man here and saw that your phone was on his desk. That’s why I didn’t pressure him. I knew he would come, he just wasn’t ready yet. I left a device in that broom closet that would trigger a worm hole and send messages to your phone, instructions on how he should activate it. I didn’t expect him to take this long.”

“I..had to….so much happened in the asylum, Lana Winters wrote a book..I…”

“You didn’t choose me, Timothy.” Rio said, getting rid of the elephant in the room. “You wanted to make sure your dream wasn’t coming true first. Before you treated me like a way out. What happened? Did Lana write her book? Did Mary Eunice find someone else to screw?”

Pepper and Tony exchanged a look. Rio had given them some stories about what happened during their time in Briarcliff, but they knew there was a lot that she wasn’t telling them. Now they got a glimpse of what that was.

“I realized that you were important to me, but I realized it too late. You were gone. And when Tony came to collect me, there was chaos. Mary Eunice escaped the asylum, we have no idea where she ran off to. Arden committed suicide, when it became clear he was going to be found out. I felt responsible and felt that I…”

Rio understood all of a sudden.

“You felt like you needed to repent. For everyone that couldn’t repent for themselves.”

The man nodded, his gaze towards the floor.

“Yes. I didn’t deserve happiness. There was too much that I had done wrong. But Tony kept sending these strange little notes to that portable phone machine.”

Rio couldn’t help but to let out a little chuckle, at his poor choice of words for her cell phone.

“I also had another realization.”

“Oh yeah? What was that?”

“I may not deserve happiness, but you do. And you did seem…happy..during..” 

Rio blushed heavily and Pepper gasped audibly, elbowing Tony in his stomach in enthusiasm. Tony’s ‘oomph’ made her regret that and she rubbed his stomach with an apologetic look.

“I was happy. I am. I mean…I’m happy you are here.” Rio whispered and shook her head in disbelief.

“Finally.” She whispered. “…After all this time…”

Timothy smiled as he took her in his arms, deciding he would do anything and everything to fit into this strange time, anything to make this girl happy. At least he would have done right by somebody if he did.

“Always.”


End file.
